Velarde v. Illinois Central Railroad

This appeal involves a collision between a freight train and an automobile which occurred just after noon on January 9, 2001, on Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, Illinois. The owner and maintainer of the tracks, defendant Illinois Central Railroad Company, d/b/a Canadian National/Illinois Central Railroad Company (CNIC or railroad), knew that snow and road salt had caused the intersection’s warning gates and lights to malfunction and was using a stop-and-flag procedure there until the signals were repaired. On this particular dry, sunny Tuesday afternoon, however, a CNIC dispatcher mistakenly…