You may be right about how "Common Sense" might actually be applied in a civil court. But that is possible only because of the very narrow view of reality that is typically allowed in any civil court. It is the result of not clearly seeing the big picture; not to mention the loosey-goosey standards of proof in civil court.

But first off, this should never have been a civil action. It should have been heard in a federal criminal court; because a very serious federal crime was committed - and it wasn't the trespass. The trespassing was a mere misdemeanor. I'm referring to the very serious felony of deliberate and willful negligence, with a wanton disregard for public safety which results in injury or death. That is different from simple negligence, in that it was caused by a deliberate or wilful act - not just an oversight or an error in judgement. And if there ever was a more obvious case of wilful and deliberate than this one.....

When committed by an architect or design engineer or a responsible corporate officer, he/she can typically expect a mandatory change of residence to a place like Leavenworth Kansas, for a couple of decades. That should happen here too!

Second: The skewing of legal common sense that we typically see in court is not only because of "Hand-Picked juries and judges, but even more so because in court, the lenses of reality are typically restricted to a very narrow view, of any given set facts and circumstances, as you amply described. In other words, while we like to say that "justice is blind", meaning that justice is applied equally to all and is no respecter of persons; It has in reality become too blind - not always taking into consideration the whole truth and all its surrounding circumstance.

Indeed, as a professional who was occasionally assigned as a forensic accident investigator, I would be called to the witness stand. After taking an oath to tell not only the truth, but the "Whole Truth"; I would then be forbidden by the judge to tell all - allowed only to answer within the very narrow scope of a question. So much for considering the whole truth - they never even heard it!

Thirdly - you would think that after a few hundred years of American Jurisprudence and statute lawmaking, that any damage, injury, or death that is the result of a felony criminal act such as this one, would be judged to be the sole responsibility of the felon. The fact is that in this case, and most other criminal negligence cases as well, if the perp had not committed the deliberate wilful act in the first place; then any other simple oversight or error by anyone else, would have contributed nothing - as there would be nothing to contribute to. Moreover, as it is, this accident would have been just as certain and just as severe, no matter what else anyone else did or didn't do, or failed at.

No alleged omission of any CSX employee could possibly have contributed anything whatsoever to this accident, neither to its probability nor to its severity. Of that I am certain. Hopefully, the appeals court, or the US Supreme Court will overturn this one - on its face. Not only that, but all the plaintiff lawyers and lower court judges involved should be censured!