Ziniti v. New England Central Railroad, Inc.

207 A.3d 463 (2019)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

A single, mainline north-south train track intersects Slaughterhouse Road at the crossing. The road is a dirt or gravel road that comes to a dead-end west of the crossing. D owns the track and crossties for a distance of at least 1320 feet in either direction along the railway line from the crossing. Since 1995, D has maintained and controlled a right of way at the crossing that extends approximately fifty feet in each direction from the centerline of the track. The Town of Northfield plows and maintains the road on both sides of the crossing. The crossing is a public crossing. P was a student. P knew that the track was active; he had heard the train whistles at various times as trains passed through. He was an avid runner who often jogged along the roadways near his apartment, including Cox Brook Road, which crossed the track about 1800 feet north of the Slaughterhouse Road crossing. Although he had never driven on Slaughterhouse Road, he knew that it branched off Route 12. Shortly before the collision, P turned from Route 12 onto Slaughterhouse Road and drove over the covered bridge. His truck windows were rolled up and he was listening to music through the truck's stereo system. As he drove over the covered bridge, he saw the hill, but he does not remember anything else beyond that point. An oncoming train struck his truck as he was crossing the track. According to the event-recorder data downloaded from P's truck, the truck slowed down from thirteen miles per hour to six miles per hour but did not stop in the last five seconds before impact. As the train approached the crossing, one of the crew members was blowing the train's horn. The horn was sounded for eleven seconds prior to impact. P admits that the train crew properly sounded the train's horn. The horn was loud enough to comply with federal regulations. The train's speed as it approached the Slaughterhouse Road crossing was thirty-four miles per hour. The train's emergency brake was applied after observing P's vehicle, but it was unable to stop before it collided with P's truck on the track. P sued Ds in negligence for failing to give an adequate audible warning of the train's approach, provide adequate sightlines for motorists to see an approaching train at the crossing, inspect and repair an unsafe crossing, report unsafe conditions at the crossing, and install adequate warning devices at the crossing. The jury determined that D was not negligent. P appealed.