United States v. The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company

ARTHUR J. STANLEY, Jr., Senior District Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment rendered in favor of the United States in an action to recover for fire damage to fifty-five acres of government land adjoining the appellant’s right-of-way in Price Canyon, Utah. The case was tried to the court without a jury.

The trial court found that the appellant (the railroad) negligently allowed inflammable materials to accumulate along its right-of-way thereby creating a dangerous condition; that the fire was ignited by a yellow fusee at a point near a switchbox on the railroad track; and that the railroad…