Hedayatzadeh
Hedayatzadeh v. North County Transit District CA4/1
Opinion
Opinion
I.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
On the night of September 24, 2016, 19-year-old Javad1 drove to Del Mar with friends. They parked at the end of 13th Street, which terminates at an ocean bluff. A railroad right-of-way owned by NCTD runs along the top of the ocean bluff, perpendicular to the end of 13th Street. People are able to walk around a guardrail at the end of 13th Street to cross the train tracks and reach the ocean bluff, as no fencing has been installed to prevent such access. NCTD is required to compile data about trespasser fatalities along its train tracks, which it must report to a federal agency. NCTD also tracks data about near misses and the number of observed trespassers, which it includes in quarterly reports. On the night at issue, Javad and his friends walked down the embankment at the end of 13th Street and crossed the train tracks to get to the ocean bluff, where they talked and smoked marijuana. Javad noticed a train coming and told his friends that he was going to use his phone to take a video “selfie” of himself next to the train. As Javad stood next to the train tracks to take a selfie, he was struck by the train and killed.