Hawkins v. John Bleakly

• Decision Date: 24 January 1916
• Docket Number: No. 35,35
• Citation: 37 S.Ct. 255,243 U.S. 210,61 L.Ed. 678
• Parties: J. C. HAWKINS, Appt., v. JOHN L. BLEAKLY, Auditor of the State of Iowa, and Warren Garst, Iowa Industrial Commissioner
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

243 U.S. 210

37 S.Ct. 255

61 L.Ed. 678

J. C. HAWKINS, Appt.,

v JOHN L. BLEAKLY, Auditor of the State of Iowa, and Warren Garst, Iowa Industrial Commissioner.

No. 35.

Submitted January 24, 1916.

Restored to docket for oral argument November 13, 1916.

Argued December 20, 1916.

Decided March 6, 1917.

Messrs. Robert Ryan, James P. Hewitt, and F. G. Ryan for appellant.

Messrs. Henry E. Sampson and John T. Clarkson, and Mr. George Cosson, Attorney General of Iowa, for appellees.

Mr. Justice Pitney delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a suit in equity, brought by appellant in the United States district court, to restrain the enforcement of an act of the general assembly of the state of Iowa, approved April 18, 1913, relating to employers' liability and workmen's compensation; it being chap. 147 of Laws of Iowa, 35 G. A.; embraced in Iowa Code, Supp. of 1913, § 2477m. The bill sets forth that complainant is an employer of laborers within the meaning of the act, but has rejected its provisions, alleges that the statute is in contravention of the Federal and state Constitutions, etc., etc. A motion to dismiss was sustained by the district court (220 Fed. 378), and the case comes here by direct appeal, because of the constitutional question, under § 238, Judicial Code [36 Stat. at L. 1157, chap. 231, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 1215].

Since the decision below, the supreme court of Iowa, in an able and exhaustive opinion, has sustained the act against all constitutional objections, at the same time construing some of its provisions. Hunter v. Colfax Consol. Coal Co. 175 Iowa, 245, L.R.A. ——, ——, 154 N. W. 1037, 157 N. W. 145, 11 N. C. C. A. 886. Hence no objection under the state Constitution is here pressed, and we, of course, accept the construction placed upon the act by the state court of last resort.

As to private employers, it is an elective workmen's compensation law, having the same general features found in the recent legislation of many of the states, sustained by their courts. See Opinion of Justices, 209 Mass. 607, 96 N. E. 308, 1 N. C. C. A. 557; Young v. Duncan, 218 Mass. 346, 106 N. E. 1; Borgnis v. Falk Co. 147 Wis. 327, 37 L.R.A.(N.S.) 489, 133 N. W. 209, 3 N. C. C. A. 649; State ex rel. Yaple v. Creamer, 85 Ohio St. 349, 39 L.R.A.(N.S.) 694, 97 N. E. 602, 1 N. C. C. A. 30; Jeffrey Mfg. Co. v. Blagg, 235 U. S. 571, 59 L. ed. 364, 35 Sup. Ct. Rep. 167, 7 N. C. C. A. 570; Sexton v. Newark Dist. Teleg. Co. 84 N. J. L. 85, 86 Atl. 451, 3 N. C. C. A. 569, 86 N. J. L. 701, 91 Atl. 1070; Deibeikis v. Link-Belt Co. 261 Ill. 454, 104 N. E. 211, Ann. Cas. 1915A, 241, 5 N. C. C. A. 401; Crooks v. Tazewell Coal Co. 263 Ill. 343, 105 N. E. 132, Ann. Cas. 1915C, 304, 5 N. C. C. A. 410; Victor Chemical Works v. Industrial Board, 274 Ill. 11, 113 N. E. 173; Matheson v. Minneapolis Street R. Co. 126 Minn. 286, L.R.A. 1916D. 412, 148 N. W. 71, 5 N. C. C. A. 871; Shade v. Ash Grove Lime & Portland Cement Co. 92 Kan. 146, 139 Pac. 1193, 5 N. C. C. A. 763, 93 Kan. 257, 144 Pac. 249; Sayles v. Foley, 38 R. I. 484, 96 Atl. 340; Greene v. Caldwell, 170 Ky. 571, 186 S. W. 648; Middleton v. Texas Power & Light Co. ——Tex. ——, 185 S. W. 556, 11 N. C. C. A. 873. The main purpose of the act is to establish, in all employments except those of household servants, farm laborers, and casual employee a system of compensation according to a prescribed schedule for all employees sustaining injuries arising out of and in the course of the employment, and producing temporary or permanent disability, total or partial, and, in case of death resulting from such injuries, a contribution towards the support of those dependent upon the earnings of the employee; the compensation in either case to be paid by the employer in lieu of other liability, and acceptance of the terms of the act being presumed unless employer or employee gives notice of an election to reject them. To this main purpose no constitutional objection is raised, the attack being confined to particular provisions of the law.

Some of appellant's objections are based upon the ground that the employer is subjected to a species of duress in order to compel him to accept the compensation features of the act, since it is provided that an employer rejecting these features shall not escape liability for personal injury sustained by an employee, arising out of and in the usual course of the employment, because the employee assumed the risks of the employment, or because of the employee's negligence, unless this was wilful and with intent to cause the injury, or was the result of intoxication, or because the injury was caused by the negligence of a coemployee. But it is clear, as we have pointed out in New York C. R. Co. v. White, No. 320, decided this day, 243 U. S. 188, 61 L. ed. 667, 37 Sup. Ct. Rep. 247, that the employer has no vested right to have these so-called common-law defenses perpetuated for his benefit, and that the 14th Amendment does not prevent a state from establishing a system of workmen's compensation without the consent of the employer, incidentally abolishing the defenses referred to.

The same may be said as to the provision that, in an action against an employer who has rejected the act, it shall be presumed that the injury was the direct result of his negligence, and that he must assume the burden of proof to rebut the presumption of negligence. In addition, we may repeat that the establishment of presumptions, and of rules respecting the burden of proof, is clearly within the domain of the state governments, and that a provision of this character, not unreasonable in itself, and not conclusive of the rights of the party, does not constitute a denial of due process of law. Mobile, J. & K. C. R. Co. v. Turnipseed, 219 U. S. 35, 42, 55 L. ed. 78, 79, 32 L.R.A.(N.S.) 226, 31 Sup. Ct. Rep. 136, Ann. Cas. 1912A. 463, 2 N. C. C. A. 243.

Objection is made to the provision in § 3, that where an employee elects to reject the act he shall state in an affidavit who, if anybody, requested or suggested that he should do so, and if it be found that the employer or his agent made such a request or suggestion, the employee shall be conclusively presumed to have been unduly influenced, and his rejection of the act shall be void. Passing the point that appellant is an employer, and will not be heard to raise constitutional objections that are good only from the standpoint of employees (New York ex rel. Hatch v. Reardon, 204 U. S. 152, 160, 51 L. ed. 415, 422, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 188, 9 Ann. Cas. 736; Rosenthal v. New York, 226 U. S. 260, 271, 57 L. ed. 212, 217, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 27, Ann. Cas. 1914B, 71; Plymouth Coal Co. v. Pennsylvania, 232 U. S. 531, 544, 58 L. ed. 713, 719, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 359; Jeffrey Mfg. Co. v. Blagg, 235 U. S. 571, 576, 59 L. ed. 364, 368, 35 Sup. Ct. Rep. 167, 7 N. C. C. A. 570; Hendrick v. Maryland, 235 U. S. 610, 621, 59 L. ed. 385, 390, 35 Sup. Ct. Rep. 140), it is sufficient to say that the criticized provision evidently is intended to safeguard the employee from all influences that might be exerted by the employer to bring about his dissent from the compensation features of the act. The lawmaker no doubt entertained the view that the act was more beneficial to employees than the common-law rules of employer's liability, and that it was highly improbable an employee would reject the new arrangement of his own free will. The provision is a permissible regulation in aid of the general scheme of the act.

It is said that there is a denial of due process in that part of the act which provides for the adjustment of the compensation where the employer accepts its provisions. In case of disagreement between an employer and an injured employee, either party may notify the Industrial Commissioner, who thereupon shall call for the formation of an arbitration committee consisting of three persons, with himself as chairman. The committee is to make such inquiries and investigations as it shall deem necessary, and its report is to be filed with the Industrial Commissioner. If a claim for review is filed, the Commissioner, and not the committee, is to hear the parties, may hear evidence in regard to pertinent matters, and may revise the decision of the committee in whole or in part, or refer the matter back to the committee for further findings of fact. And any party in interest may present the order or decision of the Commissioner, or the decision of an arbitration committee from which no claim for review has been filed, to the district court of the county in which the injury occurred, whereupon the court shall render a decree in accordance therewith, having the same effect as if it were rendered in a suit heard and determined by the court, except that there shall be no appeal upon questions of fact or where the decree is based upon an order or decision of the Commissioner which has not been presented to the court within ten days after the notice of the filing thereof by the Commissioner. With respect to these provisions, the supreme court of Iowa held (154 N. W. 1064): 'Appeal is provided from...