Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Hughes
| Decision Date | 18 October 1912 |
| Docket Number | 6,817. |
| Citation | 201 F. 727 |
| Parties | LOUISVILLE & N.R. CO. v. HUGHES et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of Ohio |
The case involves an act of the Legislature of Ohio entitled 'An act to promote the safety of employes and travelers upon railroads by compelling railroad companies to equip their locomotives with suitable boilers and appurtenances thereto,' passed May 10, 1910, approved May 20, 1910 (101 Ohio Laws, p. 328), and regulations adopted by the Railroad Commission of Ohio in pursuance of its provisions August 11 1910, and an act of Congress entitled 'An act to promote the safety of employes and travelers upon railroads by compelling common carriers engaged in interstate commerce to equip their locomotives with safe and suitable boilers and appurtenances thereto,' approved February 17, 1911 (1911 Supp.U.S.Comp.Stat. of 1901, p. 1333; 36 U.S.Stat. part 1, p 913), and regulations adopted by the Interstate Commerce Commission in pursuance of its provisions June 2, 1911.
It will be sufficient to set out the substance of these laws.
The Ohio act:
The operators of steam railroads wholly or in part within the state are required to make a thorough inspection of the boilers and appurtenances of their locomotives. Requirements are made affecting the material for construction, openings for water and steam, dimensions of pipes, sufficiency of spaces between and around flues, boilers, furnaces, safety valves, fusible plugs, low-water indicators, feed water apparatus, gauge cocks, steam gauges, means of removing mud and sediment from the boiler, and all other machinery, to the end that all of these in construction, shape, condition arrangement, and material may be safely employed without peril to life or limb. The duties of the inspector are set forth, and the times within which and the per sons by whom inspections are to be made. Power is given the State Railroad Commission to formulate rules and regulations for the inspection and testing of boilers and other appurtenances and other duties are prescribed including the appointment of a competent person as inspector who shall have charge of the inspection and perform such other duties as the Commission shall direct. If the inspector approves of the boiler and appurtenances, he shall, after taking certain steps, subscribe a certificate, one copy of which shall be filed with the officer or employe of the railroad having immediate charge of the operation of the boiler, who shall place the certificate 'in a conspicuous place in the cab connected with the locomotive boiler inspected, and there kept framed under glass. ' A penalty for each offense of omission or neglect in compliance with the provisions of the law and a further penalty of $100 for each day of such omission or neglect are prescribed. The duty is imposed on the State Railroad Commission to enforce the provisions of the act, and September 1, 1910, was the day fixed on and after which the act should take effect.
The Public Service Commission of Ohio is the successor of the State Railroad Commission, and is invested with its predecessor's powers (102 Ohio Laws, p. 549, Sec. 2), and section 502 of section 1 provides that the provisions of the act 'shall not apply to the regulation of commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes. ' August 11, 1910, the Railroad Commission adopted elaborate regulations for 'inspecting, testing and washing locomotive boilers. ' It is not necessary to set forth the elaborate details of these comprehensive regulations except in the instances specifically herein noted by quotations.
The act of Congress:
From and after July 1, 1911, it is unlawful for any common carrier, its officers or agents, subject to the act, to use any locomotive engine propelled by steam power in moving interstate or foreign traffic, unless the boiler of the locomotive and appurtenances are in proper condition and safe to operate in interstate commerce, without unnecessary peril to life or limb; and all boilers must be inspected in accordance with the provisions of the act, and be able to withstand such tests as may be prescribed in the rules and regulations to be promulgated by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Provision is made for the appointment of a chief inspector and assistants who shall be selected with reference to their practical knowledge and ability to carry out the provisions of the act, and who shall have superintendence of other inspectors with power to direct them in their duties, to the end that the act and the regulations are observed by the common carriers of interstate commerce. The territory of the United States is by the act divided into 50 locomotive boiler inspection districts, looking to effective service and uniformity of the work required of each inspector, one inspector being appointed to each district, and the inspectors shall be examined touching their qualifications. Each carrier is required to file its rules and instructions for the inspection of locomotive boilers with the chief inspector within three months after the approval of the act, and such rules, after hearing and approval by the Interstate Commerce Commission, shall become obligatory upon the carrier. Upon failure of the carrier to so file its rules and instructions, the chief inspector shall prepare rules and instructions for the inspection of the boilers, which, when approved by the Commission, shall be obligatory. Changes may be made by the carrier to take effect when they have been approved by the Commission. Duties detailed in character are imposed on each inspector, and duties are imposed upon the carriers with respect thereto, reports are provided for, and provision is made for putting locomotives with defective boilers out of commission. The chief inspector must make an annual report to the Commission. In case of accident resulting from failure from any cause of a boiler or its appurtenances, causing injury or death, the carrier must report in writing to the chief inspector who, or one of his assistants, shall investigate. Parts of the disabled locomotives shall be preserved and reports made of the cause of the accident. The Commission may give publicity to this report, together with such recommendations as it deems proper. Failure of compliance with the act or regulations made under its provisions subject the carrier to a penalty of $100 for each violation of the law to be recovered in a suit by the district attorney in the district court having jurisdiction. Approved February 17, 1911.
June 2, 1911, elaborate regulations were adopted by the Interstate Commerce Commission for the 'inspection and testing of locomotive boilers and their appurtenances. ' It is recited that at the expiration of the three months after the approval of the act many common carriers had failed to file their rules and instructions for inspections as provided by the act, and thereupon the chief inspector proceeded to prepare for submission to the Commission for its approval rules and instructions for the carriers having so failed; and upon notice there was a hearing before the Commission May 29, 1911, on the rules and instructions so prepared, that such carriers as had filed their rules and instructions within the three months asked at the hearing that such rules and instructions not fulfilling the requirements of the proposed rules and instructions prepared by the chief inspector be modified to conform thereto, and that in the respects in which their rules and instructions as prescribed a higher standard than that fixed by the chief inspector might be withdrawn, and such carriers 'joined in a request that such rules and regulations as had been prepared by the chief inspector and approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission be established with uniformity for them and all other carriers subject to the act. ' Upon submission to the Commission of the rules and instructions prepared by the chief inspector, it was ordered that they be and they were thereby approved and made obligatory from and after July 1, 1911, 'provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed as prohibiting any carrier from enforcing additional rules and instructions not inconsistent with the foregoing, tending to a greater degree of precaution against accidents.'
No detailed reference to these comprehensive regulations is necessary other than by the quotations below.
'(27) All stay bolts shorter than 8 inches, except flexible bolts and rigid bolts which are behind frames and braces, shall be drilled when the locomotive is in the shop for heavy repairs and this work must be completed prior to July 1, 1914.'
'(52) A monthly inspection report or quarterly inspection card properly filled out shall be placed under glass in a conspicuous place in the cab of the locomotive before the boiler inspected is put into service.'
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