Garrett v. SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY

• Decision Date: 22 April 1960
• Docket Number: No. 13975.,13975.
• Citation: 278 F.2d 424
• Parties: W. H. GARRETT, Appellant, v. SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY, Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

278 F.2d 424 (1960)

W. H. GARRETT, Appellant, v. SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY, Appellee.

No. 13975.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

April 22, 1960.

John H. Doughty, of Hodges, Doughty & Carson, Knoxville, Tenn. (M. G. Goodwin, Lenoir City, on the brief) for appellant.

Clyde W. Key of Key & Lee, Knoxville, Tenn., for appellee.

Before McALLISTER, Chief Judge, MARTIN, Circuit Judge, and HOLLAND Senior District Judge.

MARTIN, Circuit Judge.

In this court action, a wheel moulder in the employ of Lenoir Car Works, a Tennessee corporation, brought suit against the Southern Railway Company for alleged injuries from silicosis, claimed to have been contracted from silica dust which permeated the foundry. Upon completion of the trial, at which much evidence was received, the United States District Judge entered judgment in favor of the defendant railway company. Plaintiff's appeal to this court is from that judgment. The opinion of the District Court will be found in 173 F. Supp. 915, 918.

Appellant contends that the district court was in error in finding that the Lenoir Car Works was not the alter ego, adjunct, subsidiary, agent or instrumentality of the appellee, Southern Railway Company, and consequently was not required to respond in damages for the personal injuries sustained by appellant. Appellant insists, moreover, that the district court also erred in finding that the Southern Railway Company did not exercise such control over Lenoir Car Works as to require a determination that the railway company was the employer of appellant within the meaning of the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51 et seq.

In a carefully considered opinion, the United States District Court found that there was no evidence that the Southern Railway Company dictated the management of the Lenoir Car Works, although it owned the entire capital stock of that corporation. It was found that the evidence indicated that an individual, Henry Marius, was in full control of the operation of the car works. He established prices and handled all negotiations and collective bargaining agreements. Lenoir paid local taxes, had local counsel, and maintained workmen's compensation.

The district judge noted that "a substantial part of its requirements in the field of operation of Lenoir were bought elsewhere." Lenoir sold substantial quantities of its product to other companies than Southern; it operated no rolling stock; and had nothing to do with the transportation business.

The court found further that the facts did not reveal such intimacy and inseparability of control as would lead to the conclusion that the Southern Railway Company and Lenoir Car Works were one and the same. Lenoir was not, in the words of the Federal Employers' Liability Act, a "common carrier by...