Collins v. American Buslines

• Decision Date: 09 April 1956
• Docket Number: No. 523,523
• Parties: Joan Greenway COLLINS, Widow, et al., Petitioners, v. AMERICAN BUSLINES, Inc., Respondent Employer, et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

350 U.S. 528

76 S.Ct. 582

100 L.Ed. 672

Joan Greenway COLLINS, Widow, et al., Petitioners,

v AMERICAN BUSLINES, Inc., Respondent Employer, et al.

No. 523.

Argued March 29, 1956.

Decided April 9, 1956.

Mr. John P. Frank, Phoenix, Ariz., for petitioner.

Mr. John R. Franks, Phoenix, Ariz., for respondent Industrial Comm. of Arizona.

No appearance for respondent American Buslines, Inc.

Mr. Justice FRANKFURTER delivered the opinion of the Court.

Adolphus Henry Collins was killed in an accident near Ehrenburg, Arizona, on September 30, 1953. The accident resulted from the blowout of a tire on an American Buslines' vehicle which Collins was driving on a regular run from Phoenix to Los Angeles. Collins had been employed as a bus driver for American since 1944. He had done his driving on various routes in the Southwest, and from 1952 until the time of his death he was regularly employed on the Los Angeles to Phoenix and return route. He and his wife and minor child—the petitioners in this proceeding—made their home in Los Angeles, California in which State Collins was covered by workmen's compensation.

Petitioners applied on October 14, 1953, to the Industrial Commission of Arizona for compensation in accordance with the terms of the Arizona Workmen's Compensation Act. In an award dated November 30, 1953, that agency made, inter alia, the following findings:

'That the defendant employer maintained workmen's compensation coverage in the State of California and that payroll premium on the said Adolphus Henry Collins was reported to the State of California. That no reporting of such was made at any time to the Industrial Commission of Arizona.

'That the said Adolphus Henry Collins, at the time of his death, was not regularly employed in the State of Arizona as said term has been defined by the Supreme Court of Arizona in the case of Industrial Commission v. Watson Brothers Transportation Company, (75 Ariz. 357, 256 P.2d 730).'¹

'That the Industrial Commission of Arizona does not have jurisdiction in the premises, and that said * * * claim on file herein should be denied for lack of jurisdiction.'

On certiorari to the Supreme Court of Arizona, the construction of the Arizona statute on which the Commission based its award was rejected, but its disposition of petitioners' claim was affirmed. After concluding that American Buslines 'operated exclusively in interstate commerce,' the court held that the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution precluded recovery under the Arizona Workmen's Compensation Act because Collins was covered by the California statute, and to require his interstate employer to insure also in Arizona would place an undue burden on interstate commerce. 79 Ariz. 220, 286, P.2d 214. We granted certiorari because of the important federal question thus presented. 350 U.S. 931, 76 S.Ct. 306.

The only respondent here is the Arizona Industrial Commission. It is not at all clear from the record before us what the interest of the state agency is in this litigation. If the employer were actively before the Court, it could claim, we assume, that an award in the circumstances of the present case burdens the interstate commerce in that the consequences of such an award would to be require it in the future to obtain insurance sufficiently comprehensive to cover potential awards in the various States through which it passes. The apparent interest of the Commission is different, namely, that as a result of an award in this case, interstate carriers will seek insurance from a single private insurance carrier capable of giving coverage in all States through which they run. The desire by interstate carriers for such insurance will cause a defection from the state...