Great Northern Ry Co v. Donaldson

Citation38 S.Ct. 230,62 L.Ed. 616,246 U.S. 121
Decision Date04 March 1918
Docket NumberNo. 172,172
PartiesGREAT NORTHERN RY. CO. v. DONALDSON
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Messrs. F. G. Dorety, of Seattle, Wash., and E. C. Lindley, of St. Paul, Minn., for plaintiff in error.

Mr. James McCabe, of Seattle, Wash., for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice DAY delivered the opinion of the court.

Adaline Donaldson, as administratrix of the estate of Vance H. Thoms, deceased, brought suit in the superior court of Snohomish county, Wash., under the federal Employers' Liability Act (Act April 22, 1908, c. 149, 35 Stat. 65 [Comp. § . 1916, §§ 8657-8665]), to recover damages for injuries received which resulted in the death of Vance H. Thoms, by reason of a boiler explosion upon one of the defendant's engines upon which decedent was employed as an engineer.

The charges of negligence, in the amended complaint alleged to have resulted in the injury and death of the decedent were: That the boiler on the engine was insufficient in that:

1. The button heads of the crown bolts of the boiler were excessively and unnecessarily large and consequently unduly exposed to the direct heat produced by the oil fuel used on the locomotive;

2. That the boiler was not provided with fusible safety plugs;- 3. That scale was negligently allowed by defendant company, its officers and employes, to accumulate upon the crown sheet in the boiler.

The answer of the company denied negligence, and specifically set up the defense of contributory negligence and assumed risk on the part of the deceased. In the trial court the plaintiff recovered a verdict and judgment, and the judgment was affirmed in the Supreme Court of the state of Washington. 89 Wash. 161, 154 Pac. 133.

The ground of reversal principally urged here is that the testimony did not warrant a recovery by the plaintiff, and when properly considered required an instruction to the jury to find a verdict in favor of the company.

An examination of the record discloses that there was testimony tending to support the allegations of negligence set forth in the amended complaint. That the engine upon which the deceased was working had been a coal-burning engine but that at the time of the explosion the fuel used in its operation was, and for some time had been, oil. That the button heads on the bolts of the crown sheet at the top of the fire box (this sheet also formed the bottom of the water compartment over the fire box) were large ones when the engine was fired with coal, and were not changed with the change of fuel from coal to oil. That these button heads because of their size became overheated when oil was used for fuel, resulting in the deterioration and weakening of the strength of their material, and from the consequent giving away of the button heads, the crown sheet came down and the explosion resulted. There is also testimony tending to show that there was an accumulation of scale and a want of use of fusible plugs.

On the part of the company there was testimony tending to meet and refute that introduced by the plaintiff, and a considerable amount of testimony was introduced tending to show that the water in the boiler was too low thereby causing the explosion from the fault of the deceased engineer in allowing it to become so. There was testimony for the plaintiff to the effect that the water was not too low at the time of the explosion. The trial court submitted these issues to the jury, with the result that a verdict was found in favor of the plaintiff. The circuit court held that there was evidence sufficient to sustain the verdict, and refused to disturb it. The Supreme Court of Washington affirmed the judgment. In this situation it is enough to say that it is not the province of this court to weigh conflicting evidence. The record shows testimony supporting the verdict, and that is as far as this court enters upon a consideration of that question.

Complaint is made that the trial court failed to give an instruction requested by the company as to assumption of risk, and as to the effect of the federal Boiler Inspection Act.

Section 4 of the federal Employers' Liability Act (35 Stat. 65) provides:

'That in any action brought against any common carrier under or by virtue of any of the provisions of this act to recover damages for injuries to, or the death of, any of its employes such employe shall not be held to have assumed the risks of his employment in any case where the violation by such common carrier of any statute enacted for the safety of employes contributed to the injury or death of such employe.' Comp. St. 1916, § 8660.

That the federal Boiler Inspection Act was enacted for the safety of employes is obvious. Section 2 of that act (Act Feb. 17, 1911, c. 103, 36 Stat. 913 [8 U. S. Comp. Stats. 1916, § 8631]) provides:

'That from and after the first day of July, nineteen hundred and eleven, it shall be unlawful for any common carrier, its officers or agents, subject to this act to use any locomotive engine propelled by steam power in moving interstate or foreign traffic unless the boiler of said locomotive and appurtenances thereof are in proper condition and safe to operate in the service to which the same is put, that the...

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    ...R. Co. v. Huxoll, 245 U.S. 535, 38 S.Ct. 187, 62 L.Ed. 455; affirmance of judgment for plaintiff affirmed. Great Northern R. Co. v. Donaldson, 246 U.S. 121, 38 S.Ct. 230, 62 L.Ed. 616; affirmance of judgment for plaintiff affirmed. Nelson v. Southern R. Co., 246 U.S. 253, 38 S.Ct. 233, 62 L......
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