Alaska Co v. Hugh

• Citation: 45 S.Ct. 396,268 U.S. 23,69 L.Ed. 825
• Decision Date: 13 April 1925
• Docket Number: No. 294,294
• Parties: ALASKA S. S. CO. v. McHUGH
• Court: United States Supreme Court

268 U.S. 23

45 S.Ct. 396

69 L.Ed. 825

ALASKA S. S. CO.

v McHUGH.

No. 294.

Submitted March 10, 1925.

Decided April 13, 1925.

Messrs. Wm. H. Bogle, of Seattle, Wash., and R. E. Robertson, of Juneau, Alaska, for Alaska S. S. Co.

Mr. James Wickersham, of Juneau, Alaska, for McHugh.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 24-25 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice McREYNOLDS delivered the opinion of the Court.

The court below has certified two questions of law concerning which it desires instruction. Judicial Code, § 239 (Comp. St. § 1216). The first question follows. Our answer to it renders a reply to the second one unnecessary.

'(1) Is the owner of a ship, a common carrier engaged in coastwise commerce trade in the territory of Alaska, liable to one of its employes, a stevedore, for damages which have resulted by reason of a defect or insufficiency due to the owner's negligence in an appliance furnished to the employe as provided under sections 1 and 2 of the Act of June 11, 1906, c. 3073, 34 Stat. 232, commonly known as the First Employers' Liability Act?'

The designated statute is entitled An act relating to liability of common carriers in the District of Columbia and territories and common carriers engaged in commerce between the states and between the states and foreign nations, to their employees,' and provides:

'Section 1. That every common carrier engaged in trade or commerce in the District of Columbia, or in any territory of the United States, or between the several states, or between any territory and another, or between any territory or territories and any state or states, or the District of Columbia, or with foreign nations, or between the District of Columbia and any state or states or foreign nations, shall be liable to any of its employees, or, in the case of his death, to his personal representative for the benefit of his widow and children, if any, if none, then for his parents, if none, then for his next of kin dependent upon him, for all damages which may result from the negligence of any of its officers, agents, or employees, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency due to its negligence in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, ways, or works.

'Sec. 2. That in all actions hereafter brought against any common carriers to recover damages for personal injuries to an employee, or where such injuries have resulted in his death, the fact that the employee may have been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar a recovery where his contributory negligence was slight and that of the employer was gross in comparison, but the damages shall be diminished by the jury in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to such employee. All questions of negligence and contributory negligence shall be for the jury.'

'Sec. 3. No contract of employment, insurance, etc., shall constitute a defense to an action brought to recover damages for injuries or death.

'Sec. 4. That no action shall be maintained under this act, unless commenced within one year from the time the cause of action accrued.

'Sec. 5. That nothing in this act shall be held to limit the duty of common carriers by railroads or impair the rights of their employees under the Safety-Appliance Act of March second, eighteen hundred and ninetythree, as amended April first, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and...