Millers Indemnity Underwriters v. Braud

Citation70 L.Ed. 470,46 S.Ct. 194,1926 A. M. C. 310,270 U.S. 59
Decision Date01 February 1926
Docket NumberNo. 124,124
PartiesMILLERS' INDEMNITY UNDERWRITERS v. BRAUD et al
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Messrs. J. B. Morris and J. Austin Barnes, both of Beaumont, Tex., and G. Bowdoin Craighill and Hannis Taylor, Jr., both of Washington, D. C., for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 60 intentionally omitted] Mr. M. G. Adams, of Beaumont, Tex., for defendants in error.

[Argument of Counsel from page 61 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice McREYNOLDS delivered the opinion of the Court.

The court below affirmed a judgment of the Orange county district court in favor of defendant in error for compensation under the Workmen's Compensation Law of Texas (Gen. Laws 1917, p. 269; Vernon's Ann. Civ. St. Supp. 1918, arts. 5246-1 to 5246-91), on account of the death of her brother, O. O Boudreaux. April 17, 1920, while employed as a diver by the National Shipbuilding Company, he submerged himself from a floating barge anchored in the navigable Sabine river 35 feet from the bank, for the purpose of sawing off the timbers of an abandoned set of ways, once used for launching ships, which had become an obstruction to navigation. While thus submerged, the air supply failed, and he died of suffocation.

The employing company carried a policy of insurance with plaintiff in error conditioned to pay the compensation prescribed by the statute and accordingly was 'regarded as a subscriber' to the Texas Employers' Insurance Association therein provided for. Par. 1, § 3 of the statutes declares:

'The employees of a subscriber shall have no right of action against their employer for damages for personal injuries, and the representatives and beneficiaries of deceased employees shall have no right of action against such subscribing employer for damages for injuries resulting in death, but such employees and their representatives and beneficiaries shall look for compensation solely to the association, as the same is hereinafter provided for. * * *'

It also prescribes a schedule of weekly payments for injured employees or their beneficiaries, and provides for a board to pass upon claims and an ultimate right to proceed in court. Subscribers' employees do not contribute to the necessary costs of such protection. They are presumed to accept the plan and to waive all right to recover damages for injuries at common law or under any statute unless they give definite written notice to the contrary. No such notice was given by the deceased.

Plaintiff in error insists that the claim arose out of a maritime tort, that the rights and obligations of the parties were fixed by the maritime law, and that the state had no power to change these by statute or otherwise.

This subject was much considered in Grant Smith-Porter Co. v. Rohde, 257 U. S. 469, 477, 42 S. Ct. 157, 66 L. Ed. 321, 25 A. L. R. 1008, here on certificate, which arose out of injuries suffered by a carpenter while at work upon an uncompleted vessel lying in navigable waters within the state of Oregon. The words of the local statute applied to the employment and prescribed an exclusive remedy. We said the cause was controlled by the principle that, as to certain local matters regulation of which...

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135 cases
  • Hamilton v. County of Los Angeles
    • United States
    • California Court of Appeals
    • 20 Mayo 1982
    ...workmen's compensation law would not materially affect the uniformity of the maritime law. (Ibid.) In Millers' Underwriters v. Braud (1926) 270 U.S. 59, 46 S.Ct. 194, 70 L.Ed. 470, a diver who submerged himself from a floating barge 35 feet from the bank of a navigable river died of suffoca......
  • Rodriguez v. Union Oil Co. of Cal.
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    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
    • 28 Mayo 1954
    ...687, 85 L.Ed. 903; Uravic v. F. Jarka Co., 1931, 282 U.S. 234, 240, 51 S.Ct. 111, 75 L.Ed. 312; Millers' Indemnity Underwriters v. Braud, 1926, 270 U.S. 59, 46 S.Ct. 194, 70 L.Ed. 470; Western Fuel Co. v. Garcia, 1921, 257 U.S. 233, 42 S.Ct. 89, 66 L.Ed. 210; Grant Smith-Porter Ship Co. v. ......
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    • United States Supreme Court
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    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)
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