AUSTIN - On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court reinstated a summary judgment win in favor of Union Pacific Railroad and Ezra Alderman Ranches.
Court records show the family of the late Rolando Prado, Jr. filed suit. The trial court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, but the decision was reversed on appeal, leading the defendants to petition the Supreme Court.
According to the high court’s opinion, Prado died when his eastbound pickup was struck by a Union Pacific train at a rural crossing on private property owned by Ezra Alderman Ranches.
“Everyone agrees that anyone who actually stops at or near the stop sign can clearly see a train coming from either direction,” the opinion states.
“Prado, however, slowed to about seventeen miles per hour five seconds before the crossing, then to about nine miles per hour as he reached the stop sign, and then continued moving directly onto the tracks and into the train’s path. The conductor blew the horn again from about three seconds before impact until nearly three seconds after.”
Justices opined that it “seems reasonable” to think the law should presume that drivers will stop at a stop sign, at least absent some kind of emergency situation. And landowners, it seems, should be able to expect that drivers will obey a stop sign they post on their private property.
“The plaintiffs in this railroad-crossing case, however, urge us to accept that the law leaves room for other possibilities,” the opinion states. “Relying primarily on expert opinions, they contend that not every visible stop sign is visible enough or, even if it is, people cannot always expect that even reasonably prudent drivers will obey it.”
The Supreme Court concluded the evidence was insufficient to create a fact issue on whether a railroad crossing protected by a stop sign in addition to a crossbuck sign was “extra-hazardous.”
Justices also found that, assuming the crossing was “unreasonably dangerous,” no evidence exists that the landowner knew it was.
“We hold that on this record the trial court correctly concluded the evidence establishes as a matter of law that the railroad crossing was not extra-hazardous at the time of Prado’s accident and that the Ranch did not have actual knowledge that it was unreasonably dangerous,” the opinion states.
“We therefore reverse the court of appeals’ judgment and reinstate the trial court’s summary judgment in favor of Union Pacific and the Ranch.”
Case No. 22-0431