Kristi W. Dorn, Personal Representative Est Larry M. Dorn v. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Company

This is an appeal from a jury verdict awarding the plaintiff in a wrongful-death and survivorship action $6,655,200 in compensatory and punitive damages. The defendant seeks a new trial, arguing that the district court reached an incorrect legal conclusion that infected certain evidentiary rulings, the jury instructions, and the manner in which the punitive-damages phase of the trial was conducted. We agree that the district court should have granted the defendant’s motion for a new trial in light of various trial errors. Having jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , we reverse the judgment and remand.

I. Background

Near Hardin, Montana, railroad tracks of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company (“Burlington”) run north and south parallel to Montana Highway 87. Somewhere thereabouts, a short gravel road leads from Highway 87 in a south-westwardly direction. Approximately ninety-four feet from Highway 87, the gravel road crosses the Burlington’s railroad tracks at a sharp angle (roughly 45 degrees) as it heads into the parking lot of Cenex, a privately-owned commercial grain elevator. The gravel road also provides access to a number of residences that lie beyond Cenex’s…