John Baizley Iron Works v. Span

• Decision Date: 14 April 1930
• Docket Number: No. 62,62
• Citation: 281 U.S. 222,1930 AMC 755,50 S.Ct. 306,74 L.Ed. 819
• Parties: JOHN BAIZLEY IRON WORKS et al. v. SPAN
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

281 U.S. 222

50 S.Ct. 306

74 L.Ed. 819

JOHN BAIZLEY IRON WORKS et al.

v SPAN.

No. 62.

Argued Jan. 8, 1930.

Decided April 14, 1930.

Mr. Owen J. Roberts, of Philadelphia, Pa., for appellants.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 222-226 intentionally omitted] Mr. William J. Conlen, of Philadelphia, Pa., for appellee.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 226-228 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice McREYNOLDS delivered the opinion of the Court.

By Act of June 2, 1915, P. L. 736, as amended June 26, 1919, P. L. 642 (Pa. St. 1920, § 21916 et seq.), the Pennsylvania Legislature provided for payment of compensation by employers to employees accidentally injured, without regard to fault, created an administrative board, and prescribed procedure for carrying the general plan into effect. The statute declares there shall be a conclusive presumption that both employer and employee accept its provisions, unless one of them makes written statement to the contrary. Every employer, liable to pay such compensation, unless exempted by the board, is required to insure payment in the state workmen's insurance fund or some authorized insurance company.

Purporting to proceed under the statute, Abraham Span, appellee here, made application to the Workmen's Compensation Board for an award against the John Baizley Iron Works on account of accidental injuries. He alleged that, while employed by that concern, he suffered injury; the accident happened 'on ship Bald Hill on Delaware River, Phila., Pa., January 13, 1926,' when he was painting angle irons; both his eyes were affected by sparks from an acetylene torch in use by a fellow workman engaged in cutting iron; the business of the employer was 'iron works' and his occupation 'blacksmith helper.'

The matter went to a referee, who took evidence, heard the parties, awarded compensation according to the statutory schedule, and directed appellant the Ocean Accident & Guarantee Comapny, Limited, insurer of the iron works, to pay the same. Upon successive appeals this award and judgment were approved by the Compensation Board, court of common pleas, Superior Court, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. For purposes of the appeal to the last, and as permitted by its rule, the parties substituted the following agreed statement of facts for all evidence produced at the hearing before the referee:

'The claimant, Abraham Span, was at the time of the injuries in question, on January 13, 1926, a resident of Philadelphia and employed at Philadelphia by the defendant, John Baizley Iron Works. The defendant was engaged in performing certain repairs to the steamship 'Bald Hill,' at Philadelphia, including inter alia, the painting of the engine room and repairs to the floor of the engine room. The said vessel had prior thereto steamed to Philadelphia for necessary repairs, and at the time of the alleged accident was tied up to Pier 98 South in the Delaware River. The claimant, in the course of his aforesaid employment by the defendant, was painting angle irons in the engine room of the vessel. Sparks from an acetylene torch being used by a fellow employee working near claimant, entered the claimant's eyes and caused the injuries resulting in the alleged disability of the claimant.'

The Supreme Court declared: 'In our opinion, the insurance carrier can be held to only such liabilities as may be imposed on the employer.' And it held that when injured, Span 'was doing work of a nature which had no direct relation to navigation or commerce.'

The Bald Hill had steamed to Philadelphia for necessary repairs. She was a completed vessel, lying in navigable waters; the employer, iron works, was engaged in making repairs upon her painting the engine room and repairing the floor; the claimant went aboard in the course of his employment and was there engaged about the master's business when hurt. Obviously, considering what we have often said, unless the State Workmen's Compensation Act (Pa. St. 1920, § 21916 et seq.) changed or modified the rules of the general maritime law, the rights and liabilities of both the employer and the employee in respect of the latter's injuries were fixed by those rules, and any cause arising out of them was within the admiralty jurisdiction.

The insistence in behalf of appellee, Span, is that when hurt, he was doing work of a nature which had no direct relation to navigation or commerce; and to permit application of the State Workmen's Compensation Act would work no material prejudice to the essential features of the general maritime law as in Grant Smith-Porter Co. v. Rohde, 257 U. S. 469, 42 S. Ct. 157, 66 L. Ed. 321, 25 A. L. R. 1008. But so to hold would conflict with principles which we have often announced. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. v. Kierejewski, 261 U. S. 479, 480, 481, 43 S. Ct. 418, 67 L. Ed. 756; Gonsalves v. Morse Dry Dock & Repair Co., 266 U. S. 171, 172, 45 S. Ct. 39, 69 L. Ed. 228; Robins Dry Dock Co. v. Dahl, 266 U. S. 449, 457, 45 S. Ct. 157, 69 L. Ed. 372; Messel v. Foundation Co., 274 U. S. 427, 434, 47 S. Ct. 695, 698, 71 L. Ed. 1135; Northern Coal & Dock Co. v. Strand, 278 U. S. 142, 144, 49 S. Ct. 88, 73 L. Ed. 232.

What work has direct relation to navigation or commerce must, of course, be determined in view of surrounding circumstances as cases arise.

In Grant Smith-Porter Co. v. Rohde, supra, claimant when injured was working upon an incompleted vessel- a thing not yet placed into navigation and which had...