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LOPEZ v. UNION PACIFIC R. CO.2/25/1997
56-1-18.5(2)(a)." Summary judgment was also granted in favor of ANI on the ground that plaintiff had been awarded workers' compensation under coverage carried by SOS Temporary Services and that such award was his exclusive remedy. Lopez settled with Evans and appealed the grants of summary judgment. We summarily affirmed the summary judgment in favor of ANI on the basis that the issues raised on appeal were too insubstantial to merit further proceedings and consideration. We now review the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Union Pacific.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
Summary judgment is appropriate only when there are no issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Utah R. Civ. P. 56(c); Higgins, 855 P.2d at 235. We review the trial court's conclusions of law for correctness, granting them no deference. Ferree v. State, 784 P.2d 149, 151 (Utah 1989). On appeal, " e determine only whether the trial court erred in applying the governing law and whether the trial court correctly held that there were no disputed issues of material fact." Id.
ANALYSIS
The summary judgment awarded Union Pacific Railroad was premised on section 56-1-18.5 of the Utah Code, which at the time of plaintiff's injury provided:
(1) A person other than a railroad employee may not ride or climb or attempt to ride or climb on, off, under, over, or across a locomotive, railroad car, or railroad train without authority from the owner or operator of the railroad.
(2) A person other than a railroad employee who is injured while violating Subsection (1) may not recover damages for his injury from the owner or operator of the railroad unless:
(a) the injury was caused by an intentional act of the owner or operator of the railroad with knowledge of the presence of the person; and
(b)(i) the circumstances under which the injury occurred were such that a reasonable person would believe that serious injury would probably result from the act of the owner or operator of the railroad; or
(ii) the owner or operator of the railroad acted with a wanton and reckless disregard of the probable result of his act.
Plaintiff assails the summary judgment, asserting that while workers at ANI did not have express authority from the Railroad, they had implied or implicit authority to cross between the parked cars because the Railroad parked its trains so that workers had to cross over the cars and that the Railroad knew of that practice but did nothing
to discourage it. Plaintiff further contends that the Railroad owed him the common law duty of reasonable care because he and other workers were frequent trespassers on a particular or confined part of Railroad property. Finally, plaintiff asserts that if section 56-1-18.5 is interpreted to bar any action by him against the Railroad, it violates article I, section 11 of the Utah Constitution, commonly referred to as the open courts provision. Union Pacific urges us to affirm summary judgment on the ground that the statute does not recognize implied or implicit authority to be on railroad equipment and therefore the Railroad owed plaintiff no duty of care in the absence of the train crewmen's actual knowledge of his presence.
We need not and do not address whether subsection (1) of the statute requires express authority or whether implied or implicit authority will suffice. We decide this case on other grounds.
Pursuant to subsection (2), a plaintiff without authority to be upon railroad equipment may nevertheless recover if his injury was caused by an intentional act of the owner or operator of the rai
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