Nash v. Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad Company
| Decision Date | 19 November 1915 |
| Docket Number | 19,423 - (87) |
| Citation | 154 N.W. 957,131 Minn. 166 |
| Parties | EMMA F. NASH v. MINNEAPOLIS & ST. LOUIS RAILROAD COMPANY |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Action in the district court for Ramsey county by the administratrix of the estate of John Everett Nash, deceased, to recover $25,000 for the death of her intestate from injuries received while in the employ of defendant, and $125 for funeral expenses. The case was tried before Hanft, J., who when plaintiff rested denied defendant's motion to dismiss the action, and a jury which returned a verdict for $18,000. From an order denying its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial, defendant appealed. Affirmed on condition.
Federal Employer's Liability Act.
1. The depots of a railway company engaged in interstate commerce constitute a part of the equipment of the company used in such commerce. An outhouse at a depot is a mere appendage thereto; and a crew engaged in transporting a new one to a depot already in use for interstate traffic, for the purpose of installing it to take the place of an old one previously erected at such depot, is within the protection of the Federal Employer's Liability Act.
Damages excessive -- new trial on condition.
2. The facts in this case do not warrant a verdict for the amount returned by the jury, and a new trial is granted, unless plaintiff shall consent to reduce the verdict to the sum of $12,000.
W. H Bremner and F. M. Miner, for appellant.
Barton & Kay, for respondent.
John Everett Nash was a member of a crew, in defendant's bridge and building department, which performed carpenter work and made repairs on the bridges and buildings on defendant's branch line of railroad extending from Marshalltown in the state of Iowa to Story City in the same state. This crew had constructed a number of small outhouses at Marshalltown which were kept in stock ready to be erected wherever needed. They were directed to install one of these outhouses at the station of St. Anthony on this branch line to take the place of the old outhouse then at that station. They loaded it upon a car to be transported by train to St. Anthony, but, on the way there, it fell off the car upon the ground and was broken in pieces. On the next day, the crew went out on a hand car, propelled by a gasolene engine, to pick it up. They procured a small push car upon which they loaded it, and then pushed this car in front of the hand car to a siding where they ran it upon a side-track to wait for a train to pass. While waiting, the foreman, who had not previously been with them, arrived on a "speeder." He had learned that the train for which they were waiting was late and directed them to proceed to St. Anthony. To start the gasolene engine which propelled the hand car, they pushed the car along the track until the gas ignited and thereby set the engine in operation. The engine did not work properly at this time, and the foreman left his speeder and assisted the men in pushing the car in order to start it. It started, then stopped, and they began pushing it again. In this manner they had moved the car between 100 and 200 feet from the speeder, when a member of the crew, without the knowledge of the foreman or other members of the crew, went back, mounted the speeder and started it. He either did not know how to stop the speeder, or, from some unexplained cause, was unable to do so. When he saw that a collision was imminent, he shouted to the men at the hand car and all except Nash got out of the way. Nash was caught between the speeder and the hand car and received injuries from which he subsequently died. Plaintiff, his widow, was appointed adminstratrix of his estate, and brought suit for damages on behalf of herself and the two children, respectively three and five years of age, under the Federal Employer's Liability Act. The jury returned a verdict for $18,000, apportioned $8,000 to the widow and $5,000 to each of the two children. Defendant made the usual alternative motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial, and appealed from the denial of this motion.
Two questions are presented: Whether Nash, at the time of the accident, was engaged in interstate commerce within the meaning of the Federal Employer's Liability Act; and whether the verdict was excessive.
1. Defendant was engaged in interstate commerce. The crew, of which Nash was a member, performed their duties wholly in the state of Iowa. The outhouses had been constructed and were kept in stock in the state of Iowa. The outhouse in question had been loaded upon a train in the state of Iowa to be transported to another station in that state, for the purpose of being installed at such station and of taking the place of the old outhouse previously erected there. The station buildings and the outhouses connected therewith are provided for the accommodation of interstate as well as intrastate passengers, and are unquestionably used in connection with interstate commerce. Whether the outhouse in question had been sufficiently appropriated to the uses of interstate commerce, at the time of the accident, so that those engaged in handling it were engaged in such commerce, must be determined by the Federal law and the construction given to that law by the Federal courts.
In the following cases, employees, injured while employed in the manner indicated, were held to have been engaged in interstate commerce at the time of the injury:
A workman carrying bolts to a bridge, over which interstate trains passed, to be used in repairing such bridge. Pedersen v. Delaware, L. & W.R. Co. 229 U.S. 146, 33 S.Ct. 648, 57 L.Ed. 1125, Ann. Cas. 1914C, 153.
A truckman wheeling interstate freight from a warehouse and loading it into a car for transportation to another state. Illinois Cen. R. Co. v. Porter, 207 F. 311, 125 C.C.A. 55.
A brakeman who was injured while two intrastate cars were being uncoupled from the engine of an interstate train which had taken them from such train and run them upon a side track. New York Cent. & H.R.R. Co. v. Carr, 238 U.S. 260, 35 S.Ct. 780, 59 L.Ed. 1298.
A carpenter engaged in constructing a new office in a freight shed. Eng v. Southern Pac. Co. (D.C.) 210 F. 92.
A carpenter engaged in repairing a roundhouse which had been damaged by fire to such an extent that it was temporarily out of use. Thomas v. Boston & M.R.R. 219 F. 180, 134 C.C.A. 554.
A workman employed in constructing a temporary bridge to enable the company to move traffic while repairing the permanent bridge which had been damaged by a freshet. Columbia & P.S.R. Co. v. Sauter, 223 F. 604, 139 C.C.A. 150.
A workman engaged in setting poles and stringing wires for the purpose of installing a system of block signals. Saunders v. Southern Ry. Co. 167 N.C. 375, 83 S.E. 573; Grow v. Oregon Short Line Ry. Co. 44 Utah 160, 138 P. 398, Ann. Cas. 1915B, 481.
A switchman engaged in moving a car of oil intended for use on both switch engines and interstate engines. Montgomery v. Southern Pac. Co. 64 Ore. 597, 131 P. 507, 47 L.R.A. (N.S.) 13.
An hostler's helper engaged in coaling an engine then being prepared to haul interstate freight. Armbruster v. Chicago, R.I. & P. Ry. Co. 166 Iowa 155, 147 N.W. 337.
A workman wheeling a barrow of coal for use in the heating stoves of a repair shop, where cars which had been in interstate commerce and were to be returned to such commerce were being repaired. Cousins v. Illinois Cent. R. Co. 126 Minn. 172, 148 N.W. 58.
In the following cases employees, injured while employed in the manner indicated, were held not to have been engaged in interstate commerce at the time of the injury:
A fireman upon a switch engine moving intrastate cars from one point in the city to another point in the same city, although the same engine and crew...
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