Romo

This is an action for damages suffered in a railroad crossing accident. A jury trial resulted in a defense verdict and plaintiff appeals from the judgment. There was heavy evidence of plaintiff’s contributory negligence. The case was tried after the state Supreme Court’s decision in Li v. Yellow Cab Co., 13 Cal.3d 804 [ 119 Cal.Rptr. 858 , 532 P.2d 1226 , 78 A.L.R.3d 393 ], which abolished contributory negligence as a bar to recovery and established a rule which assigns damage liability to the parties in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to each. Plaintiff’s prime contention is that the railroad was negligent as a matter of law, thus that some apportioned award of damages was required.

The accident occurred about 1:55 a.m., October 5, 1969, at the intersection of East and Main Streets in Woodland. Each street has four lanes of traffic plus a left-turn lane. Main Street, which runs east and west, is State Highway 16 and is the primary route to Sacramento, 19 milés to the east. East Street, which runs north and south, is State Highway 113. The intersection is the busiest in Woodland and was in the last stages of reconstruction by the state highway…