In Nutt v. Union Pacific Railroad Co. (2018AP695), the Court of Appeals District III held that Union Pacific was not liable for injuries to a driver struck at a railroad crossing.

A Union Pacific train struck Jordan Nutt at a crossing in Baldwin, Wisconsin. The crossing had a stop sign and a retroreflective railroad crossing sign to warn drivers of approaching trains. Nutt failed to yield to the approaching train and did not come to a complete stop at the stop sign. The train conductors appropriately sounded the horn and applied the emergency brake but could not stop in time to avoid hitting Nutt, who was rolling through the stop sign and onto the tracks. Nutt filed the instant negligence claims against Union Pacific.

First, Nutt argued Union Pacific should have installed flashing lights and gates at the crossing, instead of just the railroad crossing sign. However, the court ruled that, because the sign was installed using federal funds, the Federal Railroad Safety Act preempted Nutt’s claim.

Second, Nutt argued Union Pacific illegally installed the stop sign at the crossing. According to Nutt, without the stop sign, he would not have slowed to a rolling stop and would have made it through the intersection in time to avoid the train. The court ruled that there was no evidence that Union Pacific installed the stop sign. Furthermore, there was not evidence that the accident would have occurred if Nutt had followed the law and came to a complete stop at the stop sign.

Finally, Nutt argued Union Pacific’s negligent maintenance of the vegetation and roadbed at the crossing caused the accident. The court found no evidence that Nutt’s view of the tracks was obstructed by vegetation, nor that Union Pacific violated Wis. Stat. § 195.29(6), requiring 330 feet of vegetation cleared along the tracks in each direction. The court also denied Nutt’s claim that Union Pacific’s roadbed maintenance created an illegal and dangerous “hump” that contributed to the accident.

Overall, the court found that summary judgment was appropriate under Wisconsin’s comparative negligence statutes (Wis. Stat. § 895.045(1)) because Nutt’s negligence clearly exceeded Union Pacific’s.