Wolf v. National Railroad Passenger Corp.

OPINION

FLANDERS, Justice.

A terrible tragedy hangs heavy over this tale of woe. William J. Houle (Houle) had warned his son, twelve-year-old Brendan, about the dangers they would face when they attempted to traverse a train trestle at night over a body of water. On a clear spring evening in 1990, Houle took his two sons out for a ramble on the train trestle that spans Apponaug Cove in Warwick. Brendan, the younger of Houle’s sons, was unable to restrain himself and stay close to his father as they passed over the water. He soon dashed ahead on the tracks and thereby fatally exposed himself to…