Illinois Central Railroad Company v. George Williams

• Decision Date: 08 January 1917
• Docket Number: No. 637,637
• Citation: 37 S.Ct. 128,61 L.Ed. 437,242 U.S. 462
• Parties: ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY et al. v. GEORGE R. WILLIAMS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

242 U.S. 462

37 S.Ct. 128

61 L.Ed. 437

ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY et al.

v GEORGE R. WILLIAMS.

No. 637.

Argued December 6, 1916.

Decided January 8, 1917.

Messrs. Charles C. Le Forgee, Blewett Lee, Charles N. Burch, and Robert B. Mayes for plaintiffs in error.

Messrs. William H. Watkins and M. F. Harrington for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Clarke delivered the opinion of the court:

It will contribute to brevity in this opinion to designate the parties as they were in the state circuit court, the defendant in error as plaintiff and the railroad companies as defendants.

The plaintiff, a switchman in the employ of the defendants, was in the act of mounting, by means of a ladder, to the top of a box car to set the brake, when the hand-hold or grab iron placed at the top of the ladder, and intended to be fastened securely to the roof of the car, gave way, causing him to fall to the ground and sustain injuries, for which he instituted suit in a circuit court of Mississippi, and recovered a judgment, which was affirmed by the supreme court of the state. This judgment is now here for review on writ of error.

Counsel for the defendants concede that the plaintiff pleaded and proved a case which entitles him to recover under the provisions of the Supplement to the Federal Safety Appliance Act, approved April 14, 1910 [36 Stat. at L. 298, chap. 160, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8618], if § 2 of that act was in effect at the time the accident to the plaintiff occurred on the night of March 15th, 1913; but they claim that this section of the act was not in effect at that time, because it had been suspended until July 1st, 1916, by an order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, issued on March 13, 1911, under the authority contained in the proviso of § 3 of the act.

Thus the sole question presented for decision is, Does the order issued by the Interstate Commerce Commission on March 13, 1911, suspend the provisions of § 2 of the act under discussion until July 1st, 1916?

To answer this question requires an examination of §§ 2 and 3 of the Act of April 14, 1910, and of the order of the Interstate Commerce Commission of March 13, 1911.

Section 2 of the act provides that on and after July 1st, 1911, 'all cars' used by any common carrier subject to the act, 'requiring secure ladders and secure running boards shall be equipped with such ladders and running boards, and all cars having ladders shall also be equipped with secure handholds or grab irons on their roofs at the tops of such ladders,' and it makes it unlawful to use cars not so equipped.

A box car could not properly be used without a secure ladder, and since, by its terms, all cars having ladders must be equipped with secure handholds, the application of this section (if it was not suspended) to the case at bar, the neglect of its requirements, and the liability of the defendants to the plaintiff for the result to him of such neglect, are too clear for discussion. Texas & P. R. Co. v. Rigsby, 241 U. S. 33, 60 L. ed. 874, 36 Sup. Ct. Rep. 482.

Section 3 of the act provides that within six months from the passage of the act the Interstate Commerce Commission 'shall designate the number, dimensions, location and manner of application of the appliances provided for by § 2 of this act' . . . and shall give notice of such designation to all common carriers subject to the provisions of the act by such means as the Commission may deem proper, and 'thereafter said number, location, dimensions, and manner of application, as designated by said Commission, shall remain as the standards of equipment to be used on all cars subject to the provisions of this act;' and failure to conform its equipment to such standards shall subject the neglecting carrier to like penalty as failure to comply with any requirements of the act. Then follows this proviso, upon which the defendants rely, viz.:

'Provided, That the Interstate Commerce Commission may, upon full hearing and for good cause, extend the period within which any common carrier shall comply with the provisions of this section with respect to the equipment of cars actually in service upon the date of the passage of this act.'

Pursuant to the command of this 3d section, the Interstate Commerce Commission, on March 13, 1911, issued an order designating 'the number, dimensions, sizes and manner of application of the appliances provided for by § 2 of the act,' and specifically describing the size, character, and location of ladders on 'freight-train cars' and of handholds to be maintained at the tops of such ladders. By the terms of this order carriers were granted an extension of five years from July 1st, 1911, in which to bring such safety appliances into compliance with the standards by it prescribed.

The claim of the defendant railway companies with respect to these two sections is built up wholly upon the assertion, it cannot properly be called argument, that because, in the part of § 3 just quoted, reference is made to § 2 for a description of the safety appliances to be standardized, therefore the whole of § 2 must be treated as so incorporated into § 3 as to be comprehended within the expression of the proviso giving power to the Interstate...