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LOPEZ v. UNION PACIFIC R. CO.2/25/1997
Plaintiff Esteban G. Lopez appeals from the trial court's grant of summary judgment dismissing his personal injury action against defendant Union Pacific Railroad Co. on the ground that Utah Code Ann. § 56-1-18.5 (1994) bars his action.
"Before we recite the facts, we note that in reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we view the facts and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party." Higgins v. Salt Lake County, 855 P.2d 231, 233 (Utah 1993). "We state the facts in this case accordingly." Id.
FACTS
Lopez was an SOS Temporary Services employee at the American Nutrition, Inc. (ANI), plant in Ogden. The plant is located in an industrial area serviced by several sets of railroad spur tracks belonging to the occupants of the adjacent businesses. Some of the tracks run between the buildings and the parking lots, and "cuts" of several railroad cars awaiting switching are sometimes parked on these tracks, blocking access. Workers in the area habitually crossed over the cuts of cars to reach other buildings and the parking lots. Union Pacific Railroad train crews had observed these workers climbing between the parked rail cars, and Railroad management was also aware of the practice. The minutes of a Railroad Safety Committee Meeting on February 6, 1989, noted that employees of ANI and Evans Grain and Elevator Company (Evans) "are crossing between rail cars while cars are being switched. Management of both firms should be made aware of the situation and this practice must be stopped immediately." Union Pacific later noted again that ANI employees were "crawling and jumping through cuts of cars." Apparently, however, neither ANI nor its employees ever received a communication or warning on the subject from the Railroad.
On February 8, 1992, Lopez was working the night shift. He left the plant at about 12:30 a.m. to eat lunch in a vehicle parked in a lot across the railroad tracks from the plant. Meanwhile, a Union Pacific train crew was switching rail cars parked on the spur track belonging to Evans. Before moving the cars, the two crew members who were on the ground looked back along the cut of cars to verify that no one was near. They did not see Lopez. The crew gave no auditory warning by bell or whistle that the cars were
about to be moved. Unaware of the switching operation, Lopez attempted to reach the parking lot by crossing between two of the rail cars. As he was climbing onto or across the coupling mechanism, the cars moved suddenly, throwing him off balance and down onto the rail. The moving train car ran over his legs, both of which were subsequently amputated between the knee and the ankle.
Lopez does not assert that he received express permission to cross between the cars, but stated at deposition, "I would see everybody doing it, so I just did the same thing they did." When questioned whether he could have walked around the train to reach the parking lot, he replied, "I really don't think so, because it was a very long train." The crew members involved testified at deposition that they had been trained to sound a warning in compliance with the Railroad's safety manuals and that they had seen ANI employees climbing between parked rail cars on previous occasions.
Lopez filed this action against Evans, ANI, and Union Pacific Railroad. The trial court granted summary judgment to the Railroad, ruling, "There is no factual dispute that plaintiff did not have express authority to be on the rail car as contemplated in Utah Code Ann. § 56-1-18.5(1); and no evidence that the Railroad intended any injury to plaintiff nor had actual knowledge of plaintiff's presence as contemplated by §
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