Northwestern Pac Co v. Bobo

• Decision Date: 08 January 1934
• Docket Number: No. 163,163
• Citation: 290 U.S. 499,54 S.Ct. 263,78 L.Ed. 462
• Parties: NORTHWESTERN PAC. R. CO. v. BOBO
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

290 U.S. 499

54 S.Ct. 263

78 L.Ed. 462

NORTHWESTERN PAC. R. CO.

v BOBO.

No. 163.

Submitted Dec. 12, 1933.

Decided Jan. 8, 1934.

Mr. W. H. Orrick, of San Francisco, Cal., for petitioner.

Mr. Robert D. Duke, of San Francisco, Cal., for respondent.

Mr. Justice McREYNOLDS delivered the opinion of the Court.

Claiming under the Federal Employers' Liability Act (45 USCA §§ 51—59), respondent sued the petitioner in the superior court, Marin county, Cal., for damages consequent upon the death of her husband, Perry E. Bobo. She maintains that this was the proximate result of the company's negligence while it employed him.

The complaint alleged:

That on February 4, 1930, the decedent, Bobo, was a tender of the bridge at Grand View, Cal., a portion of petitioner's road; 'it was part of said deceased's duties as such bridge tender to uncouple the tracks and, connections on said bridge, work the semaphore signals and, open and close the draw of said bridge; that in the course of the performance of said duties said deceased was required to go to the building on the top of said bridge for the purpose of using the mechanism located in said building which was necessary to be used in the opening and closing of said bridge and to work the semaphore signals; that on said last mentioned date it became the duty of said deceased in the discharge of his duties as such bridge tender to adjust the semaphore signals and that while returning from his duties he slipped upon the steps leading up to said building and was precipitated into the waters of the Petaluma Creek and came to his death.

'That said defendant was careless and negligent in this, that it failed to provide said deceased a safe place to do the Work required of him; that said bridge was installed in an improper manner so as to render the same unsafe and dangerous; that the steps leading to the building on the top of said bridge were constructed, installed, used and maintained by said defendant in an improper, faulty and defective manner so as to render them unsafe and dangerous; that it failed to install proper guard rails on said steps and the approaches thereto so as to protect persons using said bridge and said steps; that it permitted said steps to become uneven so that they sloped and permitted water to collect in depressions on said steps on which said deceased slipped and fell.'

A jury found in favor of the respondent and assessed the damages at $12,500. Judgment thereon was affirmed by the District Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court refused to hear the cause, and it comes here by certiorari.

The petitioner maintained that there was no evidence to show the death resulted from its negligence, also that Bobo assumed the risk, and asked for an instructed verdict. The trial court wrongly, we think, refused this request.

The evidence shows that the deceased began his service as bridge tender in August, 1929, and continued until he disappeared February 4, 1930. His working hours were from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. His duty was to open the draw for the passage of boats, then close it, see that the rails were properly aligned, and set the lights. The draw was operated through an engine housed 26 feet above the rails. When not actually engaged, Bobo ordinarily remained in a shanty, near the end of the bridge. To reach or return from the enging he went up or down a flight of 35 iron steps which ran along the outside of the bridge structure, pitched at 48 1/2 degrees to the horizontal. These steps were guarded by a single rail on either side. They were 21 inches long and 8 inches wide. He was furnished with a proper lantern to light the way.

February 3, 1930, at 9 o'clock Bobo went to work. He was last seen alive at 11 o'clock; an entry in the log book shows that he opened the draw the next morning at 1:30. Two weeks thereafter his body, badly decomposed, was found in the water some distance from the bridge. To determine the cause of death...