Olsen v. Draper

• Decision Date: 02 June 1953
• Citation: 112 F. Supp. 859
• Parties: OLSEN v. DRAPER et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York

112 F. Supp. 859

OLSEN v. DRAPER et al.

United States District Court E. D. New York.

June 2, 1953.

William A. Blank, Brooklyn, N. Y., and Samuel E. Lepler, New York City, for plaintiff.

Richard R. Bongartz, New York City (William A. Colton, New York City, of counsel), for defendant.

GALSTON, District Judge.

This is a motion made by the plaintiff, pursuant to Rule 56(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. for partial summary judgment with respect to the separate defense set forth in the defendant's answer, on the ground that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the plaintiff is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.

The action was instituted by the plaintiff as the duly appointed administratrix of the estate of Arthur J. Olsen. The complaint alleges that on or about November 22, 1950, at Richmond Hill, Queens, Long Island, the said Arthur Olsen was a passenger for hire on one of the defendant's trains, and that due to the negligence of the defendant the intestate received injuries from which he died. In his answer, the defendant set up a separate defense as follows:

"V. That on November 22, 1950, the plaintiff's intestate was a non-paying passenger on the train referred to in the complaint; that plaintiff's intestate was aboard said train solely by virtue of annual pass No. P-13890 issued to him by the Trustee of the property of The Long Island Rail Road Company and accepted by him subject to the conditions imposed on said pass as follows:

"`Conditions'

"`This pass is not transferable * * *.

"`The person accepting and using it thereby assumes all risk of accident to person or property, states that he or she is not prohibited by law from receiving free transportation and agrees to make only such use of the pass as is permitted by federal and state laws.'"

The affidavit of William A. Blank, the plaintiff's attorney, states that the decedent, Olsen, was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company as a "Lighter Captain" and that he had lived in Massapequa Park, Long Island, at the time of his death. It also appears from the affidavit that the decedent, as an employee of the Pennsylvania Railroad, was riding on the defendant's train on an annual pass issued by the Trustee of the Long Island Rail Road at the time he was injured. The contents of three letters passing between officials of the Long Island Rail Road and the Pennsylvania Railroad are quoted in the supporting Blank affidavit. These letters indicate that the Long Island Rail Road agreed to furnish train passes to Pennsylvania Railroad employees residing on Long Island, and that in return, the Pennsylvania Railroad agreed to issue train passes to Long Island Rail Road employees as requested by the Long Island Rail Road.

A pass for passage on trains of the Long Island Rail Road Company system is necessarily intrastate in character, since the railroad's lines are confined to Long Island. It is not controverted that the plaintiff's intestate was on an intrastate journey, presumably on his way home from work, when he was injured. The Hepburn Act forbids the giving of an "interstate free * * * pass" and does not relate to the issuance of intrastate free passes. 49 U.S.C.A. § 1(7). Therefore, cases construing the extent of the rights of a person to whom an interstate pass is issued under the provisions of the Hepburn Act are not controlling here. See New York Central R. Co. v. Mohney, 252 U.S. 152, 40 S.Ct. 287, 64 L.Ed. 502. We must look to New York law in determining the legal effect of the conditions contained in the pass issued to the plaintiff's intestate in respect to the limitation of liability of the defendant.

The plaintiff has cited Vroom v. New York Central & H. R. R. R. Co., 129 App. Div. 858, 115 N.Y.S. 1063, 1065, affirmed without opinion, 197 N.Y. 588, 91 N.E. 1121, as supporting its motion. The court there held that an employee of a railroad who is injured while riding on one of his employer's trains, to and from his home to work on a free pass, is considered an employee of the railroad while using such pass, and may recover for injuries sustained by the negligence of the railroad, despite the conditions contained in the pass exempting the railroad from liability for negligence. The court distinguished the situation of a railroad employee riding to and from home to his work on a pass from that of a non-employee passenger riding on a free pass. It held that in the case of an employee under the circumstances in the case before it, the pass was not a mere gratuity but a part of the contract of employment, entitling him to transportation to and from work. This holding of the court was an alternative ground for its decision, for as noted, it also held that even though the decedent there was riding on a free pass, the plaintiff was entitled to recover for the negligence of the defendant railroad in causing the death of her intestate because the decedent was riding as an employee of the defendant, and "was not a passenger being transported free". The Vroom case is not on all fours with the instant case, however, for here the plaintiff's intestate was not an employee of the defendant's railroad. On the other hand, his status cannot be equated to that of the ordinary passenger who is transported by the defendant's railroad by virtue of his...