O'Malley v. Pub. Belt R.R. Comm'n for the City of New Orleans
O'Malley v. Pub. Belt R.R. Comm'n for the City of New Orleans
Opinion of the Court
Before the Court is Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment regarding liability (Doc. 32). For the following reasons, the Motion is GRANTED IN PART.
BACKGROUND
This negligence action arises out of an incident on March 19, 2017 in which Plaintiff Brian O'Malley was struck by a locomotive while working as a switchman employed by Defendant Public Belt Railroad Commission for the City of New Orleans ("NOPB"). The following facts are undisputed. On March 19, 2017, Plaintiff was assigned to Job 100R. At the time of the accident, Job 100R was assigned to assist in pulling a cut of railcars out of Track 13 onto the Switching Lead. Before commencing his work, Plaintiff was provided with one or more briefings. The exact content of the briefings is disputed, but it is undisputed that Plaintiff was made aware that a train movement was scheduled to take place on the adjacent track, Track 14, around the same time as the movement on Track 13. Plaintiff proceeded to a point between Track 13, the track on which his train was moving, and Track 14. Once there, Plaintiff worked to verify that the cut of cars being pulled out of Track 13 matched the NOPB switching list.
*814The train on Track 14 consisted of two locomotives, one facing east and another facing west. As part of Job 102, NOPB employees were instructed to move the two-locomotive train on Track 14 in a pushing or shoving maneuver. A push or shove is when the powered locomotive pushes from behind the train rather than pulls from in front. The Job 102 crew did not sound their train's horn or bell at any point before moving or while they moved the train. While moving, the east-facing locomotive of the Job 102 train-that is, the locomotive facing the direction of travel but not containing a crewmember at the controls-struck Plaintiff.
Plaintiff sued Defendant pursuant to the Federal Employers' Liability Act ("FELA") on May 9, 2017 seeking to recover damages resulting from Defendant's negligent failure to provide a reasonably safe place to work. Plaintiff now moves for summary judgment on the issue of liability, arguing that because Defendant violated internal safety rules and federal statutes Defendant is negligent per se and that Plaintiff's recovery should not be reduced by the operation of comparative fault. Defendant opposes the Motion.
LEGAL STANDARD
Summary judgment is appropriate if "the record, including depositions, documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations ..., admissions, interrogatory answers, or other materials" "shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law."
In determining whether the movant is entitled to summary judgment, the Court views facts in the light most favorable to the non-movant and draws all reasonable inferences in his favor.
LAW AND ANALYSIS
"FELA provides the exclusive remedy for a railroad employee injured as a result of his employer's negligence."
FELA also imposes a comparative fault rule, reducing an employee's recovery in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to the employee.
Plaintiff moves for summary judgment that Defendant was negligent per se and that comparative fault does not apply in this instance because Defendant violated regulations under the FRSA. Plaintiff also argues that the violation of Defendant's internal rules is tantamount to a statutory violation because such rules have been incorporated into the federal regulations.
I. Whether a Violation of Internal Rules is Negligence Per Se
Plaintiff points to three regulations that purportedly incorporate a railroad's internal *816rules. First,
Each railroad shall adopt and comply with an operating rule which complies with the requirements of this section. When any person including, but not limited to, each railroad, railroad officer, supervisor, and employee violates any requirement of an operating rule which complies with the requirements of this section, that person shall be considered to have violated the requirements of this section.23
Several district courts have determined that regulations similar to § 218.99 incorporate a railroad's rules into the federal regulations in the FELA context.
This Court finds that the text of § 218.99 clearly incorporates a railroad's internal rules regarding protecting shoving maneuvers into the federal regulations. It explicitly makes the violation of such a rule a violation of the regulation. Accordingly, summary judgment is granted that if Defendant violated any of its internal rules enacted to comply with the requirements of § 218.99 to protect shoving maneuvers and that violation contributed to Plaintiff's injuries, Defendant is negligent per se and Plaintiff's recovery will not be reduced by comparative fault.
The other regulations cited by Plaintiff, however, do not incorporate a railroad's internal rules. Neither § 214.311 nor Part 217 contain the same explicit incorporation language used in § 218.99. The part containing § 214.311 concerns "certain railroad inspection, maintenance and construction activities," and the section's subpart is titled "Roadway Worker Protection."
II. Whether Defendant Violated an Internal Rule or Statute and is Therefore Negligent Per Se
Having granted summary judgment that the violation of an internal rule enacted to protect a shoving maneuver is negligence per se , but that the same does not apply to other internal rules, the Court will now consider whether Defendant violated a rule triggering negligence per se.
A. Auditory Signals and Radios
Several of Plaintiff's asserted bases for liability fail because the internal rules that were allegedly violated have not been incorporated into a federal statute or regulation. Plaintiff argues that Defendant violated its rules when the Job 102 train failed to sound its bell or horn before moving and when the crew members for Jobs 100R and 102 operated on different radio frequencies. However, Plaintiff points to no federal regulation or statute specifically incorporating rules regarding auditory warnings or radio frequencies into the federal regulations. Therefore the internal rules for auditory warnings and radio frequencies cannot be the basis for a finding of negligence per se or triggering the no-comparative-fault rule. Because Plaintiff moved for judgment that Defendant was negligent per se for the violation of a statutory duty, the Court need not examine whether Defendant complied with such rules.
B. Designating an Employee to Provide Point Protection
Plaintiff argues that Defendant violated the substantive text of
Section 218.99 requires that a railroad provide point protection during a shoving or pushing move by having an employee visually determine that the track is clear and give signals or instructions necessary to control the movement.
Shoving or pushing movements must be protected by a crewmember or other qualified employee.... After ensuring all couplings are made by stretching the slack, the employee directing the movement must know the track is clear by providing point protection or being in a position to make a positive visual determination.... When shoving or pushing equipment for purposes other than coupling[, t]he movement must be stopped 50 feet short of[ a]n obstruction.28
Defendant designated John McCrossen as the employee providing point protection to the Job 102 shove.
Plaintiff argues that any person providing proper point protection for the Job 102 shove should have seen him standing between Tracks 13 and 14 and stopped the train short. McCrossen himself testified that he should have seen Plaintiff if Plaintiff was fouling the track.
Defendant argues that stationing McCrossen in the cabin to protect the shove satisfied the requirements of § 218.99 and Rule 525. In support of that position, Hill did testify that it was common practice to protect a shove from the cabin of the locomotive pointing in the direction of movement.
Similarly, there remains a question of fact as to whether Defendant's actions, assuming they were negligent, contributed to Plaintiff's being struck. Defendant argues that Plaintiff was the sole cause of his injury and introduces at least some evidence that Plaintiff was negligent in where he positioned himself and in allowing himself to foul Track 14. Even if the jury were to find that Defendant violated a rule or statute relating to shove protection, a finding that Plaintiff was the sole cause of being struck would deny Plaintiff recovery. Therefore the issue of causation is a question for the jury.
C. Job Briefings
Plaintiff also argues that Defendant violated its Operating Rule 550, and therefore § 218.99, when the Job 102 crew performed an inadequate briefing before the shoving maneuver, but there remain questions of fact as to whether the briefing was sufficient and if not, whether the violation was a cause of Plaintiff's being struck.
Defendant's Rule 550 states:
When making shoving movements, job briefings will be made prior to rolling equipment being shoved....
The job briefing shall include the following:
*819a. The means of communication to be used between the crew member in charge of the movement and the locomotive engineer and
b. How point protection will be provided by such crew member.39
Rule 550 is an operating rule that complies with the requirements of § 218.99 and therefore any violation of the rule is also a violation of a federal statute.
Similarly, there remains a question of fact as to whether any failure by McCrossen to brief his crew on how he was going to perform the point protection was even a slight cause of Plaintiff's being struck. There is evidence that McCrossen's chosen method to protect the shove-visual observation from the cabin of the locomotive facing the direction of travel-was a common practice.
Plaintiff also argues that Defendant violated its Safety Rule 31 and Operating Rule 550, and therefore also § 218.99, by failing to brief Plaintiff that the train on Track 14 would be moving while Plaintiff was completing his task on Track 13. Defendant's Rule 550 states:
When making shoving movements, job briefings will be made prior to rolling equipment being shoved....
The job briefing shall include the following:
a. The means of communication to be used between the crew member in charge of the movement and the locomotive engineer and
b. How point protection will be provided by such crew member.43
Defendant's Rule 31 states in relevant part:
Job briefings must be conducted prior to work activity, subsequently when activity or work conditions change and when another person joins the crew. The following are steps for a proper job briefing:
a. Discuss the sequence of basic job steps.
b. Identify, eliminate, contain, or communicate all potential hazards to the job.
...
*820e. Make sure that instructions are understood and it is clear how the job will be performed.
f. Follow up with fellow employees to ensure compliance with safe work practices.44
There is no dispute that Plaintiff received one or more briefings that Job 102 would be shoving a train along Track 14 at the same general time as Job 100R was pulling the cut from Track 13. There is also no dispute that, close to the time that Plaintiff was struck, McCrossen briefed a member of the Job 100R team about Job 102's intended movements on Track 14 and that the member of the Job 100R crew relayed that information to Plaintiff. The parties do dispute, however, the exact content of the briefings. Plaintiff testified that he was told that the train on Track 14 would remain stationary until Job 100R left the area.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff's Motion is GRANTED IN PART. Summary judgment is granted to the extent that if a jury finds that Defendant violated any of its internal rules enacted to comply with the requirements of § 218.99 to protect shoving maneuvers and that violation contributed to Plaintiff's injuries, Defendant is negligent per se and Plaintiff's recovery will not be reduced by comparative fault. Summary judgment is DENIED in all other respects.
Defendant notes that Plaintiff also looked up and down the tracks, moved, and stood still while doing so.
Fed. R. Civ. P. 56 (2012).
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.,
Coleman v. Houston Indep. Sch. Dist.,
Engstrom v. First Nat'l Bank of Eagle Lake,
Celotex Corp. v. Catrett,
Johnson v. Deep E. Tex. Reg. Narcotics Trafficking Task Force,
Badon v. R J R Nabisco, Inc.,
Boudreaux v. Banctec, Inc.,
Rivera v. Union Pac. R. Co.,
Nivens v. St. Louis Sw. Ry. Co.,
Rogers v. Mo. Pac. R. Co.,
Yawn v. S. Ry. Co.,
Kernan v. Am. Dredging Co.,
See
See Kernan ,
See
See Kukowski v. Soo Line R.R. Co., No. 16CV01260SRNDTS,
See Robinson v. Mo. Pac. R.R. Co.,
Doc. 32-11 at 2.
Doc. 38-5 at 7.
Doc. 55-1 at 12-13.
Doc. 38-7 at 8.
Doc. 55-1 at 25-26.
Doc. 55-1 at 11.
Doc. 55-1 at 10, 26.
Doc. 55-1 at 12-13.
Doc. 55-2 at 2-5.
Doc. 53-2 at 9-10.
Doc. 53-2 at 10.
Doc. 32-12.
Compare
Doc. 55-1 at 17.
See Doc. 53-2 at 9-10.
Doc. 32-12.
Doc. 32-13.
Doc. 32-4 at 2-3.
Doc. 53-1 at 63.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Brian O'MALLEY v. PUBLIC BELT RAILROAD COMMISSION FOR the CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published