Blair v. Baltimore Co

• Decision Date: 29 January 1945
• Docket Number: No. 265,265
• Citation: 89 L.Ed. 490,65 S.Ct. 545,323 U.S. 600
• Parties: BLAIR v. BALTIMORE & O.R. CO
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

323 U.S. 600

65 S.Ct. 545

89 L.Ed. 490

BLAIR

v BALTIMORE & O.R. CO.

No. 265.

Argued Jan. 2, 3, 1945.

Decided Jan. 29, 1945.

Mr. J. Thomas Hoffman, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for petitioner.

Mr. Charles J. Margiotti, of Pittsburgh, Pa., for respondent.

Mr. Justice BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court.

A jury in the Commission Pleas court of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, awarded the petitioner a verdict for $12,000 damages for personal injuries in his action against the respondent railroad under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C., § 51 et seq., 45 U.S.C.A. § 51 et seq. That Act authorizes an employee to recover for such injuries if they result 'in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents, or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence in its * * * appliances * * * or other equipment.' The complaint set out in great detail the events leading to the injury and alleged that the injury was the result of the defendant's negligence in failing under the circumstances narrated, to provide petitioner with reasonable suitable tools and appliances, a reasonably safe place in which to work, reasonably sufficient and competent help to do the work, and the negligence of the respondent's employees who assisted him in doing the work. Respondent moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the ground that there was no evidence to prove any negligence on its part. This motion was denied. Although the trial judge thought the verdict was 'just and reasonable,' respondent's motion for new trial was granted, on the ground that while the testimony was sufficient to support a finding that the negligence of respondent's employees contributed to the injury, it was not sufficient to show that the injury resulted from defendant's failure to provide adequate equipment, or sufficient and competent help. Both parties appealed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which reversed, holding that petitioner had assumed the risk of injury by remaining in the employment and that there was no evidence to support negligence in any respect. 349 Pa. 436, 37 A.2d 736.

To deprive railroad 'workers of the benefit of a jury trial in close or doubtful cases is to take away a goodly portion of the relief which Congress has afforded them.' Bailey v. Central Vermont Ry., 319 U.S. 350, 354, 63 S.Ct. 1062, 1064, 87 L.Ed. 1444. Because important rights under the Act were involved, we granted certiorari. 323 U.S. 688, 65 S.Ct. 61.

Despite conflicting evidence, there was sufficient evidence to justify the jury in finding that the injury was inflicted under these circumstances. Petitioner's duties were to load and unload inbound and outbound freight. In unloading a car standing at the platform adjacent to respondent's warehouse, petitioner came to three 10 inch seamless steel tubes, approximately thirty feet long and weighing slightly more than a thousand pounds each. The pipes were greased and slick. The petitioner went to his superior, informed him that the pipes were too heavy for him to move and suggested that it was not customary for the railroad to unload pipes of this kind at its warehouse, but to send the car directly to the consignee's place of business where it had proper equipment for unloading heavy material. This suggestion was rejected and petitioner was then told to get Mr. Miller, the car inspector, and Mr. Fanno, the section man, to help him unload.

Petitioner's insistence that the three could not unload the heavy pipes was overridden, and he was then told to go ahead and do the work or they 'would get somebody else that would.' Under these circumstances, petitioner undertook to unload the pipes and carry them through the warehouse to place in the consignee's truck which had backed up to the warehouse platform on the opposite side from the railroad car. The best equipment available for moving the pipes was a 'nose truck' of the kind commonly used in railroad stations to move freight and luggage. It was about five feet long and two feet high, consisting of a flat metal frame, within an upright flange and two wheels at one end and wheelbarrow handles at the other. The problem was to balance three greased, 1000 pound, 30 foot steel tubes on this truck, move them across two platforms through the warehouse and place them in the consignee's truck. The men took the nose truck into the car, managed to get the first pipe lengthwise on it, worked it through the car door to the platform over a steel bridge connecting the car and the platform, and then carried it to the waiting truck. Petitioner held one handle of the nose truck with one hand and the steel tube with the other. Miller occupied the same position as to the other handle and the pipe. Fanno held the pipe and the truck at its wheel end. They were all necessarily crouching, since the truck was only two feet high when moved in a level position, as it had to be, to keep the tube from slipping off. The first tube was successfully moved. While they were attempting to move the second tube in the...