## Facts

- Tanner Perkins rode as a guest passenger in the front seat of an automobile driven by Joe Foreman.
- At approximately 6:02 a.m., after daylight on September 28, 1959, Foreman approached the Eddy Street railroad crossing in Vinton, Louisiana, where Eddy Street ran north–south and the track ran east–west.
- A long warehouse (about 500 feet) in the northwest quadrant created a mutual sight obstruction: it blocked a northbound driver’s view of westbound trains and also blocked the train crew’s view of vehicles approaching from the north.
- The railroad had multiple warnings at the crossing, including an automatic signal device (a swinging red light and a bell) and stop signs; the automatic signal was operating at the time of the collision.
- A westbound freight train approached with its headlight burning, bell ringing, and whistle blowing. The engineer sat on the right (south) side of the lead engine, where he could not see an автомобile coming from the left; the fireman and brakeman sat on the left (north) side and looked ahead toward the crossing.
- Foreman did not stop and drove onto the tracks despite the stop sign, the operating signal, and the train’s audible warnings.
- The train struck the automobile, killing both Foreman and Perkins.
- It was undisputed that Foreman’s negligence was a proximate cause of Perkins’s death.
- The train traveled about 37 mph at the crossing, exceeding the railroad’s self-imposed 25‑mph limit; this made the train crew negligent as well.
- The fireman and brakeman first saw the car only as it emerged from behind the warehouse; they warned the engineer, who applied the emergency brake when the train was very close to the crossing (about 30–60 feet away).
- The engineer testified that even if the train had been traveling at 25 mph, the collision could not have been avoided once the car became visible.
- Perkins’s widow, Maxine Perkins, sued Texas and New Orleans Railroad Company for wrongful death. The district court found for the plaintiff, and the court of appeal affirmed. The railroad sought review in the Supreme Court of Louisiana.

## Issues

1. Whether the railroad’s negligence in exceeding its self-imposed 25‑mph speed limit was a cause in fact of Perkins’s death—i.e., a “substantial factor” in producing the collision—when the evidence showed the collision would have occurred even at 25 mph.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Louisiana reversed the judgment for the plaintiff and rejected recovery against Texas and New Orleans Railroad Company.
- The court accepted that operating the train 12 mph over the railroad’s own speed limit was negligent.
- The court held, however, that the excessive speed was not a substantial factor in bringing about the collision because the accident was unavoidable once Foreman drove into the crossing and the car became visible only at very short range.
- Because the collision would have happened even if the train had been traveling at 25 mph, the railroad’s negligence lacked causation in fact and could not support liability.

## Legal Principles

- A negligence claim requires proof that the defendant’s breach was a cause in fact of the harm.
- Under the “substantial factor” approach to cause in fact, conduct is not a factual cause if the harm would have occurred even without that conduct.
- Where multiple actors are negligent, each actor’s negligence must still make a causal difference; negligent conduct that does not contribute to the occurrence in a meaningful way does not create liability.
- A speed violation (including a self-imposed operational limit) establishes breach, but not liability, unless the plaintiff also proves the excess speed helped bring about the collision.

## Conclusion

Although the railroad was negligent for operating the train above its own 25‑mph limit, the Supreme Court of Louisiana held the plaintiff failed to prove causation in fact because the collision would have occurred even at the lawful speed once the car entered the crossing from behind the warehouse obstruction, so the wrongful-death judgment was reversed and the railroad was not liable.


Perkins v. Texas and New Orleans R. Co., 147 So. 2d 646, 243 La. 829 (1962)