Norfolk S. Ry. Co. v. Zeagler

A railway company was not entitled to summary judgment in a conductor's suit for injuries arising from a grade-crossing collision.

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The plaintiff in this case, William Zeagler, was a train conductor employed by the defendant Norfolk Southern Railway Company “Norfolk Southern”. Zeagler was injured when the train on which he was working collided with a logging truck at a grade crossing. He sued Norfolk Southern under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act “FELA”, 45 USC § 51 et seq., claiming that the railroad negligently failed to train him on how to avoid or mitigate injury in the event of a grade-crossing collision. The trial court granted summary judgment to Norfolk Southern after concluding that the railroad had no duty to train its employees on what to do when a grade-crossing collision is imminent. The Court of Appeals reversed that judgment, see Zeagler v. Norfolk S. R. Co., 317 Ga. App. 302 730 SE2d 657 2012, and this Court granted certiorari to consider two questions: 1 whether the Court of Appeals erred in reversing the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of Norfolk Southern; and 2 whether Zeagler’s failure-to-train claim is preempted or precluded by Federal Railroad Administration regulations.

We conclude that the answer to both questions is no. First, the Court of Appeals did not err in reversing the trial court’s summary judgment order. Under FELA, Norfolk Southern has a legal duty to use reasonable care in providing a safe workplace for its employees, which includes providing them with such training as is reasonable regarding how to avoid or reduce injury from reasonably foreseeable workplace hazards. It is undisputed that grade-crossing accidents are entirely foreseeable workplace hazards for train conductors, and thus Norfolk Southern had a duty to provide Zeagler with whatever training is reasonably appropriate to protect him from injury in such accidents.

Norfolk S. Ry. Co. v. Zeagler

A railway company was not entitled to summary judgment in a conductor's suit for injuries arising from a grade-crossing collision.

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