Joseph H. Weiderhoff, Inc. v. Neal

• Decision Date: 03 January 1934
• Docket Number: No. 584.,584.
• Citation: 6 F. Supp. 798
• Parties: JOSEPH H. WEIDERHOFF, Inc., et al. v. NEAL et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri

6 F. Supp. 798

JOSEPH H. WEIDERHOFF, Inc., et al. v. NEAL et al.

No. 584.

District Court, W. D. Missouri, C. D.

January 3, 1934.

Leo T. Schwartz, of Kansas City, Mo. (Maurice J. O'Sullivan, of Kansas City, Mo., of counsel), for plaintiffs.

Franklyn E. Reagan, of Jefferson City, Mo., for defendant Mrs. Myrtle Marie Neal.

Roy McKittrick, Atty. Gen., and Franklyn E. Reagan, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendant Compensation Commission.

REEVES, District Judge.

This is a proceeding to enjoin the members of the Missouri Workmen's Compensation Commission from entertaining jurisdiction and determining a question of compensation. The claimant is also enjoined.

The facts are that one Leon P. Neal was employed by the plaintiff in the state of Illinois, the residence of both the employer and employee. While the employee was engaged in such employment, and on December 13, 1932, he was killed near Chillicothe, Mo.

Illinois has a Workmen's Compensation Law (Smith-Hurd Rev. St. Ill. 1931, c. 48, § 138 et seq.), and by means of the usual administrative tribunal created for the purpose, claims are adjusted which arise through the relation of employer and employee. This law automatically affects both the employer and the employee and excludes all other statutory and common-law remedies. It is provided in said law that where the contract of employment is entered into in the state of Illinois, adjustments are made thereunder, notwithstanding the fact that the damage might have accrued outside of the territorial limits of said state.

In this case it was admitted that the employee was killed outside the state of Illinois. It is the contention of the plaintiff that the Workmen's Compensation Law of Illinois is applicable and that the claimant is required to seek an adjustment of damages under the laws of Illinois.

On the other hand, the defendants say that the claimant is not deprived of her legal remedies because of the circumstance that the accident occurred and the damages accrued in the state of Missouri. It is urged by the defendants that the laws of Illinois would not have extraterritorial force. Moreover, the defendants aver that this court would be without jurisdiction of the subject-matter, and, even if so, it could not restrain the Missouri Workmen's Compensation Commission because said commission partakes of the nature of a court.

These questions and others will be noted and discussed in the course of this memorandum opinion.

1. The contention of the defendants that this court could not issue an injunction against the Missouri Workmen's Compensation Commission because of section 379, title 28, U. S. C. (28 USCA § 379), is without support. This section applies to judicial tribunals and its object is to prevent unseemly conflict between courts. The Supreme Court of Missouri has repeatedly ruled that the Workmen's Compensation Commission of Missouri is not a judicial tribunal. It is construed to be an administrative agency to carry the provisions of the act into effect, and that it is not invested with judicial power in the sense in which the term is used in the Constitution. Oren v. Swift & Co., 330 Mo. 869, 51 S.W.(2d) 59, loc. cit. 61; State ex rel. Brewen-Clark Syrup Co. v. Missouri Workmen's Compensation Commission, 320 Mo. 893, 8 S.W.(2d) 897; De May v. Liberty Foundry Co., 327 Mo. 495, 37 S.W.(2d) 640.

2. The further contention that the plaintiff has an adequate legal remedy under the laws of Missouri is also without merit. When plaintiff and its employee entered into their engagement, the Workmen's Compensation Laws of Illinois automatically fixed their relationship and the substantial rights of each one. The contract of employment was entered into in view of the law, and the statutes became a part of the contract. It was their engagement therefore that in case of a claim for damages, whether accruing in the territorial limits of Illinois or beyond such limits, such claim would be determined and adjusted under the laws of Illinois. This was a valid undertaking and fixed the substantive rights of the parties, and each one became bound thereby. See Daggett v. Kansas City Structural Steel Co., 65 S.W. (2d) 1036, Supreme Court of Missouri, not yet reported in State Report.

Claimant seeks to have her claim ascertained and determined by a statutory tribunal expressly forbidden under the Illinois law, and thus, in the contract between the parties. Moreover, a Missouri statute specifically denies jurisdiction to the defendant commission. Section 3310, R. S. Mo. 1929 (Mo. St. Ann. § 3310, p. 8245), is as follows:

"(b)...