Roy Adamsen v. Asbury Transportation Company, a Corporation

Appellant (plaintiff below) a citizen of the State of Oregon, instituted suit in the district court against appellee (defendant below), a California corporation, to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained in a railroad crossing collision when a passenger train on which he was a passenger collided with appellee’s tank truck and tank trailer which was crossing the railroad tracks. Jurisdiction of the district court was properly invoked under Title 28 U. S.C. § 1332.

Following trial to a jury, a general verdict was returned in favor of appellee and judgment upon the verdict was entered in its favor. Following denial by the district court of a motion for new trial, appellant filed a timely appeal. This Court’s jurisdiction rests upon Title 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 and 1294.

The accident occurred at a railroad crossing located in an industrial area of gasoline and oil storage plants near Portland, Oregon, at about 4:15 P.M. The railroad crossing consisted of four sets of tracks. The two inner sets of tracks were for main line travel and on each side of the main line tracks, and parallel thereto, was a set of tracks used for switching purposes. The tracks ran in…