Hearst v. St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company
| Decision Date | 02 February 1915 |
| Citation | 173 S.W. 86,188 Mo.App. 36 |
| Parties | IDA A. HEARST, Respondent, v. ST. LOUIS, IRON MOUNTAIN & SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY, Appellant |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
January 5, 1915, Argued and Submitted
Appeal from Jefferson Circuit Court.--Hon. E. M. Dearing, Judge.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded. (with directions).
R. T Railey and N. A. Mozley for appellant.
The record discloses that deceased, at the time of his injury was an engineer in charge of the engine pulling a passenger train engaged in interstate commerce. The petition and instructions of respondent show that the action was brought and tried under the provisions of the Damage Act of Missouri (R. S. 1909, chap. 38, p. 1712). The Employers' Liability Act, adopted by the National Congress, April 22, 1908 abrogates the Damage Statute of Missouri in so far as the same applies to injuries to an employee while engaged in interstate commerce and, as no cause of action could be stated under a law that did not exist, the court was without jurisdiction and appellant's objection to the introduction of any testimony and to the jurisdiction of the court should have been sustained. Act, April 22, 1908, Federal Statutes Annotated Supplement 1909, page 584; Fulgam v. Railroad, 167 F. 660; State v. Railroad, 212 Mo. 658; Rich v. Railroad, 166 Mo.App. 379; Mondou v. Railroad (U.S.), 56 L.Ed. 348.
No brief filed for respondent.
-This is an action by plaintiff, widow of one William F. Hearst, to recover damages ($ 10,000) for the death of her husband, under the provisions of sections 5425, 5426 and 5427, Revised Statutes 1909. The amended petition upon which the case was tried avers that defendant was operating a railroad extending from the city of St. Louis in the State of Missouri, through the county of Jefferson in said State, to the city of Texarkana, in the State of Arkansas. The decedent sustained his injuries, from which he died, in consequence of a collision with another train, on May 5, 1910, at Hilliard Station, in Butler county, Missouri, a short distance north of Poplar Bluff, which was the end of the division over which plaintiff's husband was running the train. The train of which decedent was the engineer, was a through passenger train from St. Louis, Missouri, to Texarkana, Arkansas. From a verdict and judgment in favor of plaintiff for $ 4000, the defendant appeals.
Beyond question the husband of the plaintiff received his injuries and came to his death while in the employ of defendant, a common carrier by railroad, and while engaged in interstate commerce. [Second Employers' Liability Cases, 223 U.S. 1, l. c. 48.]
Counsel for appellant challenge the right of plaintiff, as widow, to maintain this action, basing that claim on section 2, chapter 149, 35 U.S. Statutes at Large, p. 65 (sec. 8658, p. 3913, 4 U.S. Compiled Statutes, Ed. 1913), the Act approved April 27, 1908. By section 2 of this Act, it is provided that every common carrier by railroad, engaged in interstate commerce "shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier, . . . or, in case of the death of such employee, to his or her personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving widow or husband and children of such employee; and, if none, then of such employee's parents, and, if none, then of the next of kin dependent upon such employee, for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, . . . or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, . . . or other equipment." The injury resulting in the death of plaintiff's husband is said to have occurred through the negligent failure of defendant to furnish proper and safe appliances, the defective appliances, it being averred, being an air compressor for operation of the brakes upon the train of which he was the engineer.
We had occasion to consider the application of this section of the United States law in connection with a suit brought by the widow of an employee who had been killed while in the employ of a railroad engaged in interstate commerce, in the case of Rich v. St. Louis & San Francisco R. Co., 166 Mo.App. 379, 148 S.W. 1011. We there held that this act of Congress imposing liability upon railroads engaged in interstate commerce for injuries sustained by their employees, supersedes the law of our State, in so far as the latter covers the same...
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