Dahn v. Davis, 166

• Decision Date: 10 April 1922
• Docket Number: No. 166,166
• Citation: 258 U.S. 421,42 S.Ct. 320,66 L.Ed. 696
• Parties: DAHN v. DAVIS, Agent, etc
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

258 U.S. 421

42 S.Ct. 320

66 L.Ed. 696

DAHN

v DAVIS, Agent, etc.

No. 166.

Argued March 10, 13, 1922.

Decided April 10, 1922.

Messrs.

Walter C. Clephane and J. Wilmer Latimer, both of Washington, D. C., for petitioner.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 421-426 intentionally omitted] Mr. A. A. McLaughlin, of Washington, D. C., for respondent.

Mr. Justice CLARKE delivered the opinion of the Court.

The petitioner, a railway mail clerk in the employ of the United States, was injured on May 29, 1918, when the car in which he was working was wrecked on the line of the Illinois Central Railroad, then being operated by the Director General of Railroads under the Federal Control Act of March 21, 1918 (40 Stat. 451, c. 25, Comp. St. 1918, Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, §§ 3115 3/4 a-3115 3/4 p). He brought this suit to recover for his injuries against the Illinois Central Railroad Company and the Director General of Railroads, but the former was dismissed from the case on demurrer. Among other defenses, the Director General of Railroads alleged in his answer that the petitioner, as an employee of the United States, had made application for, and pursuant to its provisions had been paid, compensation under the provisions of the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (39 Stat. 742, Comp. St. §§ 8932a-8932uu), and that thereby this further action, which is, in effect, against the United States, was barred. A demurrer to this last defense was sustained and the petitioner obtained a verdict on which the District Court entered judgment. On error this judgment was reversed by the Circuit Court of Appeals, that court holding that the petitioner had his option under the law to apply for compensation under the Employees' Compensation Act, as he did, or to sue for damages under the Federal Control Act (40 Stat. 451, c. 25), and that, by electing to accept the benefits of the former, he was barred from prosecuting this action for negligence against the United States under the latter.

Thus, the writ of certiorari brings up for review the question whether, when a government employee, injured on a railroad, operated at the time by the Director General of Railroads, had elected to accept payment under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, he was thereby barred from prosecuting a suit against the Director General of Railroads for negligence causing the injury for which he had been compensated.

James C. Davis, the Agent designated by the President under section 206 of the Transportation Act of 1920 (41 Stat. 456), has been substituted for the Director General of Railroads as respondent.

It was definitely held in Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. Ault, 256 U. S. 554, 41 Sup. Ct. 593, 65 L. Ed. 1087, that, at all of the times here involved, section 10 of the Federal Control Act permitted the government, through its Director General of Railroads, to be sued for any injury negligently caused on any line of railway in his custody, precisely as a common carrier corporation operating such road might have been sued, and that recovery, if any, would be from the United States.

Thus, plainly the petitioner had the right to sue the Director General of Railroads for negligently injuring him, and if successful his recovery must have been from the United States.

The Federal Employees' Compensation Act, approved September 7, 1916 (39 Stat. p. 742, c. 458), provides that the United States shall thereafter pay, as therein specified, for the disability or death of any government employee resulting from personal injury sustained while in the performance of his duty. The act provides for a commission to investigate claims and to make awards, but no compensation may be allowed to any person unless he, or some one in his behalf, shall make written claim therefor. Thus, the petitioner, injured, as he was, while in the performance of his duty, was entitled to compensation under the act upon making claim for it.

This reference to the two acts shows that the petitioner had two remedies, each for the same wrong, and both against the United States, and therefore the question for decision takes the form, May the petitioner after having pursued one of his remedies to a conclusion and payment pursue the other for a second satisfaction of the same wrong against the government.

That this question must be answered in the negative we think clear from various provisions in the Compensation Act, showing that Congress intended that payments made under it should be regarded as full and final and that no payment in addition thereto would be made by the government to an injured employee.

Section 7 of the act specifically declares that so long as any employee is receiving installment payments under the act, or if he has been paid a lump sum in commutation of installment payments then until the expiration of the period during which installment payments would have continued, 'he shall not receive from the United States any salary, pay or remuneration whatsoever except in return for services actually performed,' and except pensions for service in the Army or Navy.

It would be difficult to frame a clearer declaration than this that no payment would be made by the government for injuries received other than as...