Roy v. Missouri Pacific Railroad Co.

Factual and Procedural Background

NEWTON, Judge.

On June 26, 1993, George Roy was driving his 1986 Ford pickup truck through a railroad grade crossing when a Union Pacific Railroad train struck his truck. Stephen Wheeler, the train engineer, was operating the train at the time of the accident. The train consisted of three locomotives and 113 empty coal cars. Matt Carson, the train conductor, was also on the train. Union Pacific owned the railroad tracks, Missouri Pacific Railroad, and a fifty-foot right of way on both sides of the track.

At this particular crossing, the railroad tracks run east…