Peters v. Burlington Northern Railroad

ANDREASEN, Justice.

Plaintiffs sought compensatory and punitive damages for defendant railroad’s removal of private roadway and crossing which deprived them access to their gravel excavation business. The district court granted the defendant a directed verdict. Plaintiffs appealed, asserting that Iowa Code section 327G.11 (1987) requires a railroad to install and maintain an adequate roadway when a person’s land is bisected by a railway. Plaintiffs urge that the railroad was negligent in failing to install and maintain an adequate roadway and in refusing to allow the plaintiffs to use the…