Duncan v. Union Pacific Railroad

STEWART, Justice:

(Dissenting).

The Court holds that Union Pacific has no duty to upgrade the safety devices at a railroad crossing where four people were killed. The majority overturns 100 years of Utah case law holding railroads to a duty of care with respect to crossings without explanation or the slightest acknowledgment of its existence. The Court attempts to justify its extraordinary theory that a railroad has no duty to install adequate warning devices at dangerous crossings on the ground that the authority to require the upgrading of warning devices rests solely with the Utah Department…