Atchison, Topeka Santa Fe Railway Company v. George Sowers

• Decision Date: 01 March 1909
• Docket Number: No. 64,64
• Parties: ATCHISON, TOPEKA, & SANTA FE RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err., v. GEORGE A. SOWERS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

213 U.S. 55

29 S.Ct. 397

53 L.Ed. 695

ATCHISON, TOPEKA, & SANTA FE RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v GEORGE A. SOWERS.

No. 64.

Argued January 8, 1909.

Decided March 1, 1909.

Messrs. Andrew H. Culwell. J. W. Terry, Gardiner Lathrop, and A. B. Browne for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 56-58 intentionally omitted] Messrs. Harry Peyton, William H. Robeson, and George E. Wallace for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Day delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a writ of error to the court of civil appeals for the fourth supreme judicial district of the state of Texas. The defendant in error, George A. Sowers, a citizen of Arizona, recovered judgment in the district court of El Paso county, Texas, in the sum of $5,000, for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by him while employed in the service of the plaintiff in error as a brakeman in the territory of New Mexico. The judgment was affirmed by the court of civil appeals. 99 S. W. 190. Subsequently leave to file a petition in error was denied by the supreme court of Texas, and the case was brought here by writ of error to the court of civil appeals.

The defendant in error recovered because of injuries received while riding on the pilot of an engine at Gallup, New Mexico. His injuries are alleged to have been occasioned by the negligence of the railroad company in permitting its track to become soft and out of repair, permitting low joints therein, by reason of which the engine's pilot struck a frog and guard rail, and the plaintiff was injured.

We are not concerned with the questions of general law in actions of negligence which were involved in the case. The Federal question which invites our attention concerns an act of the legislature of New Mexico, passed March 11, 1903 (chapter 23, Acts of 35th Legislative Assembly of New Mexico). We give this act in full in the margin.

Whereas, it has become customary for person claiming damages for personal injuries received in this territory to institute and maintain suits for the recovery thereof in other states and territories, to the increased cost and annoyance and manifest injury and oppression of the business interests of this territory, and the derogation of the dignity of the courts thereof.

Therefore, be it enacted by the legislative assembly of the territory of New Mexico:

Section 1. Hereafter there shall be no civil liability under either the common law or any statute of this territory on the part of any person or corporation for any personal injuries inflicted or death caused by such person or corporation in this territory, unless the person claiming damages therefor shall, within ninety days after such injuries shall have been inflicted, make and serve upon the person or corporation against whom the same is claimed, and at least thirty days before commencing It is contended by the plaintiff in error that its effect is to prescribe causes of action for personal injuries, enforceable only in the district court of the territory of New Mexico, and not elsewhere, and that the court of Texas, in maintaining jurisdiction of

the said party named in said petition to appear in said court and file such statement in the form of a complaint against said petitioner, if he has to make, and upon such complaint being filed by such party as required, the defendant named therein may demur to or answer the same, and such further pleading had as the parties may be entitled to or as may be meet and proper, as in other cases of a similar character, and from thenceforward such further proceedings shall be had in such causes as in other cases, and the same shall be determined upon its merits, and final judgment, subject, however, to appeal or writ of error, shall be rendered therein either for the petitioner named in said complaint, or for the adverse party; and, if the court finds the petitioner guilty of any of the wrongs, injuries, or trespasses complained of against him in said statement, such damages shall be assessed against the said petitioner as the law and the facts may require, in the same manner as though said cause had been instituted by the filing of said statement as a complaint.

In event said party complained of in said petition, after being duly served with such summons, shall fail or refuse to appear or file his said statement as required herein, judgment shall be rendered by default against him in favor of the petitioner, as in other cases, and thereupon the court shall try and determine the issues raised by such petition, including the question as to whether or not the petitioner is liable to said party on account of any of the matters or things stated in said petition in any sum of money whatsoever, and if so, in what amount, and final judgment shall be rendered in accordance with the facts and the law, and such judgment as the court may render shall be final and conclusive upon the question of the liability or nonliability of said petitioner to said party, and of the amount of the liability.

Sec. 3. It shall be unlawful for any person to institute, carry on, or maintain any suit for the recovery of any such damages in any other state or territory, and upon its being made to appear to the court in which any proceeding has been instituted in this territory, as herein provided, that any such suit has also been commenced, or is being maintained, in any other state or territory, contrary to the intent of this act, it shall be the duty of the court to set down for hearing, and try and determine the proceeding so pending in this territory as expeditiously as possible, upon which short notice to the other party thereto or his attorneys as the court may direct; and, for the purpose of trying the same, said court shall have the power to compel the parties thereto the case, and refusing to enforce the territorial statute, denied a Federal right guaranteed by the Constitution and statutes of the United States, requiring such faith and credit to be given in every court within the United States to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state or territory as they have, by law, in the courts of the state or territory from which they are taken.

It is contended that there is no jurisdiction in this this cthis court to entertain this writ of error. But we are of opinion that there is jurisdiction. The Revised Statutes of the United States, § 709 (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 575), authorize this court to review final judgments in the highest court of the state in which a decision in the suit could be had, where any tit privilege, or immunity under the Federal Constitution or under any statute of or authority exercised under the United States is specially claimed and denied.

The territorial law was specially set up in the case, and was offered in evidence at the trial, and it was held by the Texas court that it was not required to give force and effect to the territorial statute under the Constitution and laws of the United States.

The opinion of the court of civil appeals of Texas shows that the validity of this statute and its binding force to control the right of action asserted was considered and denied in giving judgment against the plaintiff in error. Such judgment gives this court jurisdiction of the case. Hancock Nat. Bank v. Farnum, 176 U. S. 640, 44 L. ed. 619, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 506; St. Louis, I. M. & S. R. Co. v. Taylor, 210 U. S. 281, 293, 52 L. ed. 1061, 1067, 28 Sup. Ct. Rep. 616; American Exp. Co. v. Mullins, decided by this court, February 23, 1909 [212 U. S. 311, 53 L. ed. ——, 29 Sup. Ct. Rep. 381].

It is contended at the outset that inasmuch as this territorial statute has been annulled by act of Congress (35 Stat. at L. pt. 1, p. 573), that the act is void from the beginning. The organic act establishing the territory of New Mexico provides (Compiled Laws of 1897, § 7, p. 43):

'All the laws passed by the legislative assembly and governor shall be submitted to the Congress of the United States, and, if disapproved, shall be null and of no effect.'

But we are not prepared to hold that the territorial law thus annulled under the power of Congress becomes void from the beginning. Conceding to the fullest extent the powers of Congress over territorial legislation, we think such laws, duly enacted and within the legislative power of the territory, are in force until Congress has exerted its authority to annul them. If this be not so, rights acquired on the faith of territorial laws, passed within the scope of the legislative power of the territory, may be stricken down by the retroactive effect of an act of Congress annuling such legislation. All right to legislate would be at a standstill until that body should act. Congress might not be in session, or its action delayed, rendering the territory powerless, even in cases of emergency, to pass necessary laws. We think Congress has only reserved a revisory power over territorial legislation. Miners' Bank v. Iowa, 12 How. 1, 8, 13 L. ed. 867, 870.

To make effectual the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution (art. 4, § 1), Congress passed the act of May 26, 1790 (1 Stat. at L. 122, chap. 11, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 677). This act made provision for the authentication of the records, judicial proceedings, and acts of the legislatures of the several states, and provided that the same should have such faith and credit given to them in every state within the United States as they have by law or usage in the courts of the state from which the records are or shall be taken. This act did not include the territories.

On March 27, 1804, Congress passed an act extending the provisions of the former statute to the public acts, records, judicial proceedings, etc., of the territories of the United States and countries subject to the jurisdiction thereof. 2 Stat. at L. 298, chap. 56, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 677. Those statutory enactments subsequently became §§ 905 and 906 of the Revised...