Lockard v. Missouri Pacific R. Co.

• Decision Date: 25 September 1989
• Docket Number: 89-1069,Nos. 89-1068,s. 89-1068
• Citation: 894 F.2d 299
• Parties: , 15 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1029 Leland L. LOCKARD, Appellee, Lynette Lockard, v. MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, a corporation, Appellant, Rosella Ray d/b/a Rosella Ray's Boarding House. Leland L. LOCKARD, Lynette Lockard, Appellees, v. MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, a corporation, Rosella Ray d/b/a Rosella Ray's Boarding House, Appellant. . Submitted:
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

Page 299

894 F.2d 299

58 USLW 2440, 15 Fed.R.Serv.3d 1029

Leland L. LOCKARD, Appellee, Lynette Lockard, v. MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, a corporation, Appellant,

Rosella Ray d/b/a Rosella Ray's Boarding House.

Leland L. LOCKARD, Lynette Lockard, Appellees, v. MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY, a corporation, Rosella Ray d/b/a Rosella Ray's Boarding House, Appellant.

Nos. 89-1068, 89-1069.

United States Court of Appeals,

Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: Sept. 25, 1989.

Decided Jan. 19, 1990.

R. Dennis Osterman, Bethesda, Md., for Missouri Pacific.

Robert D. Mullin, Jr., Omaha, Neb., for Rosella Ray.

Jeanne L. Sathre, Wood River, Ill., for appellees.

Before LAY, Chief Judge, ARNOLD and BEAM, Circuit Judges.

LAY, Chief Judge.

Leland Lockard sued Missouri Pacific Railroad Company (MoPac) pursuant to the Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA), 45 U.S.C. Secs. 51-60 (1982), and the jury awarded $600,000 reduced by a finding of twenty percent contributory negligence. Leland Lockard also sued Rosella Ray, d/b/a Rosella Ray's Boarding House, for negligence under Nebraska law, and the jury awarded $200,000 reduced by a finding of twenty-five percent contributory negligence. Lynette Lockard sued Ray for loss of consortium under Nebraska law, and the jury awarded $50,000. Both defendants appeal. We vacate the judgments against Ray for lack of federal jurisdiction, and affirm the judgment against MoPac.

I. BACKGROUND

In November of 1984, MoPac and Ray entered into a written agreement for the lodging of MoPac's crew members. Ray agreed to "furnish, maintain and operate motel lodging facilities" for a one-year period and to "provide 24-hour per day motel management." MoPac agreed to pay Ray on a monthly basis.

Leland Lockard was assigned as a fireman to the crew of a local MoPac train. On December 14, 1984, Lockard reported to work in Auburn, Nebraska, from which the train was to depart for Crete, Nebraska. The train was regularly scheduled to depart from Auburn on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with a layover in Crete on those evenings and a return to Auburn on the following mornings. Lockard and the crew arrived in Crete at approximately 10:00 p.m. on December 14, and checked into Rosella Ray's Boarding House.

When Lockard and the crew arrived in Crete, approximately four to five inches of new snow covered the ground. Lockard testified that the sidewalk and the steps leading up to the sole entrance of the boarding house had been partially cleared.

Lockard used the steps when he left for dinner that evening, and again when he returned. At 6:30 a.m. on December 15, 1984, Lockard used the steps when he left the boarding house for breakfast. It had rained during the night and, as the temperature was below freezing, there was a glaze of ice on the steps. Lockard held on to the railing as he departed. It was drizzling when Lockard returned to his room after breakfast. At 7:15 a.m., when Lockard left the boarding house to report for work, he slipped on the icy top step and fell down the steps on his back and hip.

The plaintiffs recovered money damages against the defendants as set forth. The trial court overruled defendants' motions for a new trial as well as their motions for judgments n.o.v.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Pendent Party Jurisdiction ¹

Lockard's FELA claim alleged negligence arising from MoPac's failure to: (1) provide Lockard with a reasonably safe place to work and/or lodge; (2) maintain the boarding house steps in a safe condition when it should have known the steps were icy; (3) inspect the steps; and (4) remove the ice from the steps. The complaint also joined the state claims against Ray. No independent basis of federal jurisdiction existed over Ray. ²

The question whether federal jurisdiction is properly asserted over Ray must be evaluated in light of Finley v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 2003, 104 L.Ed.2d 593 (1989). ³ In Finley, the Supreme Court held that the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) authorizes suit only against the United States and not against other parties as to whom no independent basis of federal jurisdiction exists--so-called "pendent parties." Id. 109 S.Ct. at 2010. The Court examined the text of the FTCA which provides that "the district courts * * * shall have exclusive jurisdiction of civil actions on claims against the United States," 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1346(b) (1982), and held that " 'against the United States' means against the United States and no one else." Finley, 109 S.Ct. at 2008 (emphasis added). Applying this interpretive rule, we must similarly conclude that the FELA authorizes jurisdiction over railroads and no one else.

Prior to Finley, the issue of whether the FELA permitted pendent party jurisdiction was far from settled. The uncertainty stemmed from the Court's holding in Aldinger v. Howard, 427 U.S. 1, 96 S.Ct. 2413, 49 L.Ed.2d 276 (1976), that a federal court may exercise pendent party jurisdiction only after determining "that Congress in the statutes conferring jurisdiction has not expressly or by implication negated its existence." Id. at 18, 96 S.Ct. at 2422 (emphasis added). ⁴ This standard persuaded some courts to read Aldinger narrowly, concluding that pendent party jurisdiction was permitted under the FELA because it had not been implicitly or explicitly prohibited by Congress. ⁵ Other courts, however, reached a contrary conclusion. ⁶

In our view, Finley resolves the issue with a clear rule of statutory interpretation. Under Finley, pendent party jurisdiction does not exist merely by the fact Congress has failed to negate it. Rather, pendent party jurisdiction exists only where Congress has affirmatively granted such jurisdiction. Finley, 109 S.Ct. at 2009. ⁷ The Court in Finley concluded its holding by stating: "All our cases--Zahn [v. International Paper Co., 414 U.S. 291, 94 S.Ct. 505, 38 L.Ed.2d 511 (1973) ], Aldinger, and Kroger [Owen Equipment & Erection Co. v. Kroger, 437 U.S. 365, 98 S.Ct. 2396, 57 L.Ed.2d 274]--have held that a grant of jurisdiction over claims involving particular parties does not itself confer jurisdiction over additional claims by or against different parties. Our decision today reaffirms that interpretative rule; the opposite would sow confusion." Id. 109 S.Ct. at 2010. This rule applies even where the claims against the additional parties " 'derive from a common nucleus of operative fact,' " and are such that a plaintiff " 'would ordinarily be expected to try them [all] in one judicial proceeding.' " Id. at 2006 (quoting United Mine Workers v. Gibbs, 383 U.S. 715, 725, 86 S.Ct. 1130, 1138, 16 L.Ed.2d 218 (1966)). As the Court in Finley stated: "[W]ith respect to the addition of parties, as opposed to the addition of only claims, we will not assume that the full constitutional power has been congressionally authorized, and will not read jurisdictional statutes broadly." 109 S.Ct. at 2007.

Plaintiffs argue that Finley does not control this case because the jurisdictional grant under the FELA is broader than the jurisdictional grant under the FTCA. We see no relevant difference in the two provisions, however. As we have noted, the FTCA confers jurisdiction over "civil actions on claims against the United States." 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1346(b). By comparison, the FELA provides that "[e]very common carrier by railroad * * * shall be liable * * *," 45 U.S.C. Sec. 51 and, further, that "[u]nder this chapter an action may be brought in a district court of the United States, * * *." 45 U.S.C. Sec. 56 (emphasis added). It is clear from this language that the FELA accomplishes in two steps what the FTCA accomplishes in one: a grant of jurisdiction over claims involving particular parties, in this case FELA claims against railroads. ⁸ Therefore, Finley's holding that such a jurisdictional grant "does not itself confer jurisdiction over additional claims by or against different parties," 109 S.Ct. at 2006, is equally applicable under the FELA.

Our decision that pendent party jurisdiction is not authorized by the FELA is less harsh than the Finley holding in one important respect. The FTCA does not permit suit against the government in state court. See 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1346(b). Although this factor was noted in Finley, the Court nevertheless found the statutory language controlling. The Court stated:

Because the FTCA permits the Government to be sued only in federal court, our holding that parties to related claims cannot necessarily be sued there means that the efficiency and convenience of a consolidated action will sometimes have to be forgone in favor of separate actions in state and federal courts. We acknowledged this potential consideration in Aldinger, 427 U.S., at 18, 96 S.Ct., at 2422 but now conclude that the present statute permits no other result.

109 S.Ct. at 2010.

By contrast, FELA suits may be brought in state court as well as federal court. 45 U.S.C. Sec. 56. Removal to federal court by the railroad is prohibited. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1445(a) (1982). Therefore, FELA plaintiffs do not necessarily face the dilemma of bifurcated lawsuits as do their FTCA counterparts. If FELA plaintiffs wish to sue both the railroad and pendent parties in a single forum, they may do so in state court. ⁹

In construing acts of Congress, we must be mindful that "[w]hat is of paramount importance is that Congress be able to legislate against a background of clear interpretive rules, so that it may know the effect of the language it adopts." Finley, 109 S.Ct. at 2010. Applying the clear interpretive rule set out by the Supreme Court in Finley, we hold that federal jurisdiction does not exist over Rosella Ray in this case. We therefore vacate the judgments against her and order that the claims against her be dismissed.

B. FELA Claim

MoPac argues that there is insufficient evidence of its own negligence. MoPac asserts that Lockard's injuries were caused by unforeseeable weather conditions occurring on property owned and maintained by...