Chicago, Rock Island Pacific Railway Company v. Bertha Zernecke

• Decision Date: 06 January 1902
• Docket Number: No. 58,58
• Citation: 22 S.Ct. 229,183 U.S. 582,46 L.Ed. 339
• Parties: CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err. , v. BERTHA ZERNECKE, Administratrix of the Estate of Ernest H. Zernecke, Deceased
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

183 U.S. 582

22 S.Ct. 229

46 L.Ed. 339

CHICAGO, ROCK ISLAND & PACIFIC RAILWAY COMPANY, Plff. in Err.,

v BERTHA ZERNECKE, Administratrix of the Estate of Ernest H. Zernecke, Deceased.

No. 58.

Argued October 25, 1901.

Decided January 6, 1902.

Messrs. W. F. Evans and M. A. Low for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. Thomas C. Munger, John M. Stewart, and A. E. Harvey for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice McKenna delivered the opinion of the court:

This action was brought in the district court of Lancaster county, Nebraska, by the defendant in error as the administratrix of the estate of Ernest H. Zernecke, deceased, against the plaintiff in error, for damages, under a statute of the state, for the death of Zernecke, caused by the derailment of the train of plaintiff in error upon which Zernecke was a passenger.

The plaintiff alleged negligence in the railroad company and its servants. The answer of the company denied negligence, and alleged that the derailment was caused by some person or persons unknown to the company and not in its employment or under its control, who wilfully, maliciously, and feloniously removed and displaced from the track certain spikes, nuts, angle-bars, fishplates, bolts, and rails, and otherwise tore up and destroyed the track. The company also alleged care in the maintenance of its track and the management of its train.

The petition alleged that the plaintiff in error 'was a corporation, duly incorporated under the laws of the state of Nebraska,' and the admission of the answer was that defendant in error, 'at all times mentioned in said petition, was a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the states of Illinois and Iowa, and a domestic corporation of the state of Nebraska.'

The case was tried before a jury. The evidence of defendant in error (petitioner) was that at the time Zernecke was killed he was being transported as a passenger over the railway of plaintiff in error, and that the train upon which he was riding was thrown from the track, resulting in his death and the death of ten other persons. The plaintiff in error then offered witnesses and depositions to sustain the allegations of its answer. The testimony, upon the objection of defendant in error, was rejected, and at the close of the evidence, on motion of defendant in error, the court instructed the jury as follows:

'1. The jury are instructed that if you find from the evidence that Ernest H. Zernecke was a passenger, being carried on the train of the defendant railway company that was derailed and wrecked near Lincoln, Nebraska, on August 9, 1894, thereby causing the death of said Zernecke, and that plaintiff is his administratrix, and she and her children had a pecuniary interest in his life and suffered loss by his death, then you should find for the plaintiff.'

The jury returned a verdict for defendant in error for $4,500, upon which judgment was entered. The judgment was affirmed by the supreme court of the state (59 Neb. 689, 82 N. W. 26), and the case was then brought here.

The assignments of error are based upon the contention that the action of the district court and the decision of the supreme court in affirming the judgment of the district court were based upon § 3 of the act providing for the incorporation of railroad companies, and it is contended that the section contravenes the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, in that said section deprives plaintiff in error of its property without due process of law. The section is as follows:

'Every railroad company, as aforesaid, shall be liable for all damages inflicted upon the person of passengers while being transported over its road, except in cases where the injury done arises from the criminal negligence of the person injured, or when the injury complained of shall be the violation of some express rule or regulation of said road actually brought to his or her notice.' Neb. Comp. Laws, 838.

The court, interpreting the statute, said:

'It gives or creates a right of action in favor of the injured passenger, and when it is established that a person is injured while a passenger of the railroad company a conclusive presumption of negligence arises in every case, except where it is disclosed that the injury was one caused by his own criminal negligence or by his violation of some rule of the company brought to his actual notice. . . . In other words, a conclusive presumption of negligence arises where the case does not fall within the exceptions of the law and he has his right of action. . . . Now it is indisputable that if Zernecke had been injured merely, and not killed, he could have recovered against the railway company under said § 3, article 1, of chapter 72, and that thereunder said injuries would have been deemed to have been caused by the wrongful acts, neglect, or default of the said railway company in failing to carry such passenger safely. Hence this case falls within the scope of said chapter 21 and the fact of negligence, or the defendant's wrongful acts or default is established when the evidence discloses the facts specified in said § 3 of chapter 72.'

In other cases the supreme court has passed upon the statute, the titles of which cases are inserted in the margin.

In McClary v. Sioux City & P. R. Co. (1873), 3 Neb. 44, 19 Am. Rep. 631, railroad companies were held not to be insurers of their passengers. In that case the injury was caused by the upsetting of the train by a gust of wind. The negligence of the company consisted in being behind time. If the train had been on time it would have escaped the tempest. The negligence, it was decided, was too remote as a cause, and the company was held not liable.

Subsequently (39 Neb. 803, 58 N. W. 434) railroad companies were held to be insurers of their passengers. The company escaped liability, however, by reason of the gross negligence of the person injured.

In Omaha & R. Valley R. Co. v. Chollette, 33 Neb. 143, 49 N. W. 1114, the words of the statute exempting railroad companies from liability, 'where the injury done arose from the criminal negligence of the persons injured,' were defined to mean 'gross negligence,' 'such negligence as would amount to a flagrant and reckless disregard' by the passenger of his own safety, and 'amount to a wilful indifference to the injury liable to follow.' This definition was approved in subsequent cases. It was also approved in the case at bar, and the plaintiff in error, it was in effect declared, was precluded from any defense but that of negligence as defined, or that the injury resulted from the violation of some rule of the company by the passenger brought to his actual notice, and the company, as we have said, was not permitted to introduce evidence that the derailment of its train was caused by the felonious act of a third person. The statute, thus interpreted and enforced, it is asserted, impairs the constitutional rights of plaintiff in error. The specific contention is that the company is deprived of its defense, and not only declared guilty of negligence and wrongdoing without a hearing, but adjudged to suffer without...