Chicago Great Western Co v. Basham

• Decision Date: 03 March 1919
• Docket Number: No. 111,111
• Citation: 39 S.Ct. 213,249 U.S. 164,63 L.Ed. 534
• Parties: CHICAGO GREAT WESTERN R. CO. v. BASHAM
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

249 U.S. 164

39 S.Ct. 213

63 L.Ed. 534

CHICAGO GREAT WESTERN R. CO.

v BASHAM.

No. 111.

Submitted Dec. 19, 1918.

Decided March 3, 1919.

Messrs. George H. Carr, Fred P. Carr, and O. M. Brochett, all of Des Moines, Iowa, for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. Thomas A. Cheshire and Howard J. Clark, both of Des Moines, Iowa, for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice PITNEY delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is a writ of error directed to the court of last resort of a state since the taking effect of the Act of September 6, 1916, c. 448, 39 Stat. 726, by the second section of which section 237, Judicial Code (Act March 3, 1911, c. 231, 36 Stat. 1156 [Comp. St. § 1214]), was so amended that the revisory jurisdiction of this Court over the decisions of state courts, exercisable by writ of error, was confined to cases involving the validity of a treaty or statute of, or an authority exercised under the United States, the decision being against their validity, or involving the validity of a statute of, or an authority exercised under a state, on the ground of repugancy to the Constitution, treaties, or laws of the United States, the decision being in favor of their validity; and by which the final judgment or decree of a state court of last resort based upon a decision adverse to a right or immunity claimed under the Constitution or a statute of the United States, previously reviewable by writ of error, was (with other kinds specified) made reviewable only in case this court, in the exercise of its discretionary authority, should require, 'by writ of certiorari or otherwise,' that the judgment be certified to it for review. See Phila. & Reading C. & I. Co. v. Gilbert, 245 U. S. 162, 38 Sup. Ct. 58, 62 L. Ed. 221; Ireland v. Woods, 246 U. S. 323, 328, 38 Sup. Ct. 319, 62 L. Ed. 745. The words 'or otherwise' add nothing of substance to the thought expressed by the new act. Huguley Mfg. Co. v. Galeton Cotton Mills, 184 U. S. 290, 295, 22 Sup. Ct. 452, 46 L. Ed. 546.

In the case before us the questions raised by the record and assignments of error relate wholly to the alleged denial by the Supreme Court of Iowa of certain rights and immunities asserted by plaintiff in error under the Act of Congress approved April 22, 1908, commonly known as the Employers' Liability Act (35 Stat. 65 c. 149 [Comp. St. §§ 8657-8665]; Act April 5, 1910, 36 Stat. 291, c. 143). Hence, under the new system established by the Act of 1916, the judgment is in the class of those that are reviewable in this court not by writ of error but by writ of certiorari.

By section 7 of the latter act it was provided that the right of review under existing laws in respect of judgments entered before the act took effect (October 6, 1916) should remain unaffected for the period of six months thereafter, but at the end of that time should cease. The present writ of error was applied for within the six-months period—December 19, 1916—and the question whether our jurisdiction is properly invoked by this form of writ depends upon whether the judgment sought to be reviewed was 'entered before this act takes effect' within the meaning of section 7.

The action was brought against the railway company in a district court to recover damages for the death of plaintiff's intestate, and a trial by jury resulted in a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff. Defendant appealed to the Supreme Court of Iowa, and that court on November 26, 1915, delivered an opinion for affirmance (Basham v. Chicago G. W. Ry. Co., 178 Iowa, 998, 154 N. W. 1019), and judgment was entered accordingly. A petition for a rehearing was...