CSX Transportation, Inc. v. Lizzie Beatrice Easterwood (507 U.S. 658)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 21, 1993 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 507 U.S. 658 · 113 S. Ct. 1732
- Decided
- April 21, 1993
- Term
- October Term 1992
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice White
- Issue area
- Federalism
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice White delivered the opinion of the Court. Thomas Easterwood was killed on February 24, 1988 when a train owned and operated by petitioner and cross-respondent CSX Transportation, Inc., collided with the truck he was driving at the Cook Street crossing in Cartersville, Georgia. His widow, respondent and cross-petitioner Lizzie Easterwood, brought this diversity wrongful-death action, which alleges, inter alia, that CSX was negligent under Georgia law for failing to maintain adequate warning devices at the crossing and for operating the train at an excessive speed. The issue before the Court is the extent to which the Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 (FRSA), 84 Stat. 971, as amended, 45 U. S. C. §§421-447 (1988 ed. and Supp. II), pre-empts these claims. The District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted summary judgment for CSX on the ground that both claims were pre-empted. 742 F. Supp. 676, 678 (1990). The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part, holding that respondent’s allegation of negligence based on the train’s speed was pre-empted, but that the claim based on the absence of proper warning devices was not. 933 F. 2d 1548, 1553-1556 (1991). Because Courts of Appeals have differed over the pre-emptive effect of FRSA on negligence suits against railroads, we granted the petitions of both parties. 505 U. S.…
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