City of Detroit v. Osborne

• Decision Date: 19 May 1890
• Citation: 10 S.Ct. 1012,135 U.S. 492,34 L.Ed. 260
• Parties: CITY OF DETROIT v. OSBORNE
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

135 U.S. 492

10 S.Ct. 1012

34 L.Ed. 260

CITY OF DETROIT v. OSBORNE.

May 19, 1890.

Henry M. Duffield, for plaintiff in error.

F. H. Canfield for defendant in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 492-495 intentionally omitted]

BREWER, J.

On November 19, 1883, the defendant in error, while walking on Church street, in the city of Detroit, was thrown to the ground, and received severe personal injuries, in consequence of a defect in the sidewalk. For these injuries, she, as a citizen of Ohio, brought her action in the circuit court of the United States against the city, and recovered a verdict and judgment for $10,000. 32 Fed. Rep. 37. The city alleges error; and its principal contention is that, under the rulings of the supreme court of Michigan, municipal corporations are not liable in damages for personal injuries of this nature, and that, such being the settled law of the state, it is binding upon the federal courts. This contention suggests two inquiries: First, what is the settled law of Michigan? and, second, if it be as claimed, is it binding upon the federal courts?

The answer to the first inquiry is easy and clear. The precise question was presented in 1870 to he supreme court of Michigan, in the case of Detroit v. Blackeby, 21 Mich. 84. In that case the injury resulted from a defect in the streets, and from failure to keep them in proper repair. Under the laws then in force, both the power and the duty of keeping streets in repair was vested in the city; but the supreme court held that this duty was to the public, and not to private individuals, the mere neglect of which was a non-feasance only, for which no private action in damages arose. The power of the legislature to create a liability to private suit was conceded; but it was decided that, in the absence of express action of the legislature creating such liability, the mere grant of the power, and the imposition of the duty, to keep streets in repair, was not sufficient to sustain a private action for injuries resulting from a failure to keep such streets in repair. This doctrine had never been departed from by the supreme court of that state; and no action had ever been taken by the legislature, up to the time of this accident, to change the rule of liability thus announced. In 1879 (No. 244, Laws 1879) an act of the legislature was passed for the collection of damages sustained by reason of defective public highways, streets, bridges, cross-walks, and culverts. That statute came before the supreme court for examination in the case of Detroit v. Putnam, 45 Mich. 263, 7 N. W. Rep. 815, and it was held—First, that 'a statutory liability created in derogation to common law cannot be enlarged by construction;' and, secondly, that the act, omitting sidewalks, left the law in respect to sidewalks not in repair as it was before, and that no private action against the city for damages springing from a defective sidewalk could be maintained. In Church v. Detroit, 64 Mich. 571, 31 N. W. Rep. 447, an act purporting to extend the liability of municipal corporations to the case of damages resulting from defective sidewalks was declared unconstitutional. Thus, by the concurrent action and judgment of the legislature and the supreme court of the state of Michigan, there was, up to and beyond the time of the injury complained of in this action, no liability on the part of a municipality for such injuries. The case of Detroit v. Chaffee, 70 Mich. 80, 37 N. W. Rep. 882, in no manner conflicts with this established rule. In that case a judgment had been obtained against the city in the United States circuit court for personal injuries caused by a defective sidewalk in front of a lot owned by Chaffee. The city had no right of appeal to this court, the judgment being under $5,000, and brought its action against Chaffee, the owner of the lot, under section 57 p. 614, Local Acts Mich. 1883, which provides that 'the common council shall have power to provide and ordain by ordinance that, whenever any side walk requires to be built or repaired, the said council may direct the board of public works to notify the owner, agent, or occupant of any lot or parcel of land in front of or adjacent to which such walk is required to be built or repaired, to build or repair the same, and that if such agent, owner, or occupant shall neglect, for a time to be specified in the ordinance, to do such building or repairing, it shall be the duty of the said board to at once do or cause the same to be done, and in such case the expense thereof shall be assessed upon such lot or parcel of land, and shall be a lien thereon until collected and paid in a manner to be prescribed in such ordinance; and the owner so neglecting to build or repair shall be liable to the city for all damages which shall be recovered against the city for any accident or injuries occurring by reason of such neglect, and also to prosecution in the recorder's court, and on conviction to be fined not to exceed five hundred dollars, and the penalties in the city charter else where provided.' A judgment in favor of the city was ordered. But this section of the statute was...