The 2007 amendments to the Federal Railroad Safety Act do not alter the preemption analysis of state law claims.

The plaintiff filed this action for damages after he collided with a CSX train while attempting to cross a railroad track, making a state law claim that CSX failed to provide adequate warning devices at the railroad crossing. This issue presented is whether the plaintiff's state law claim was preempted by federal law pursuant to the Federal Railroad Safety Act ("FRSA"). Federal preemption of state law occurs where "federal regulations substantially subsume the subject matter of the relevant state law[.]" Under the FRSA, all state law claims are preempted where the Secretary of Transportation or the Secretary of Homeland Security promulgate regulations that address the matter of a state law, with noted exceptions. The court found that the 2007 amendments to the FRSA did not alter the law that "federal preemption of a state law inadequate signalization claim occurs when federal funds were used to purchase the warning device, the warning device was actually installed, and the warning device was approved by the Federal Highway Administration." The plaintiff failed to prove any exceptions to the preemption rule were applicable as the plaintiff could not establish the presence of a local safety hazard at the railroad crossing at issue.

Case Law Alert - 1st Qtr 2010