Richard Williams v. Union Pacific Railroad, a Utah Corporation

Richard Williams, appellant herein, filed an action in the District Court for the District of Oregon against the Union Pacific Railroad, appellee herein, claiming damages under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51 et seq., by reason of injuries suffered on August 22, 1958, while he was employed by appellee as a dining car waiter. The case was tried to a jury which rendered a verdict in favor of the railroad. A motion for a new trial made by appellant was denied by the district judge, and appellant filed an appeal to this court. Jurisdiction in the district court and in this court is conceded.

The evidence showed that about 7 A.M. on August 22, 1958, the train on which appellant was working was near La Grande, Oregon, travelling at a speed of 40 miles an hour. When it was “very close”, about five or six car lengths, to a crossing, the engineer and the engine foreman at about the same time saw at the crossing in the path of the train a plank 24 feet long, 12 inches wide, and four inches thick, lying diagonally across one of the tracks. Trainmen testified that such a plank constituted a derailment hazard to the train. The operator of the train immediately applied…