Reynolds v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co.

• Decision Date: 13 May 1952
• Docket Number: No. 13550.,13550.
• Citation: 196 F.2d 643
• Parties: REYNOLDS v. ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

196 F.2d 643 (1952)

REYNOLDS v. ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO.

No. 13550.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

May 13, 1952.

J. Kirkman Jackson, Birmingham, Ala., for appellant.

LeRoy Allen, Tampa, Fla., for appellee.

Before HUTCHESON, Chief Judge, and BORAH and STRUM, Circuit Judges.

BORAH, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment dismissing an action brought under the Federal Employer's Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51 et seq., by the appellant, Mrs. Marie Reynolds, as administratrix of the estate of her deceased husband, Hury O. Reynolds.

A statement of the history of this litigation, which has been before the Supreme Court of Alabama and the Supreme Court of the United States is necessary to an understanding of the question presented in this action. Mrs. Reynolds first sued to recover damages for her husband's death in an Alabama state court. As permitted by the practice in that state the plaintiff set forth in her complaint all of the facts which she expected to prove to establish her cause of action. In substance, the complaint alleged that appellant's husband was employed as a brakeman on defendant's freight train No. 567 and, shortly before arriving at the point where he was injured and killed, he had taken a position on the lead end of the sixth car from the caboose in order to give a signal which he was required to pass to the engineer while suspended from the engineer's side of the moving train. The complaint charged that because the railroad company had negligently allowed tall canes to remain in close proximity to the track, Reynolds could not safely signal from the sixth car and was required to pass to the seventh car in order to give the signal; that he was killed while making this additional crossing; and that the defendant's negligent failure to provide a reasonably safe place to work, caused Reynolds to place himself in a position of much greater danger than he otherwise would have been in the performance of his duties. The complaint also charged that it would not have been necessary for the deceased to undertake the performance of these duties if the railroad had provided a competent fellow brakeman.

The railroad's demurrer to the complaint, on the ground that the facts as thus set forth did not constitute a cause of action, was sustained by the trial court. Because of this adverse ruling, Mrs. Reynolds suffered a nonsuit and reserved the ruling for review by the Supreme Court of Alabama.

The state Supreme Court pointed out that going from one car to another on a moving freight train is not unusual for a brakeman in the performance of his duties and, although dangerous, the railroad could not be charged with liability for injuries which result from the usual risks incidental to the employment which could not be eliminated by the exercise of reasonable care; and that in order to state a cause of action under the Federal Employer's Liability Act it must appear that the injury was the natural and probable consequences of the negligent or wrongful act. It found that the complaint was sufficient to charge negligence in allowing tall canes to grow in close proximity to the track and in the failure to provide a competent fellow workman, but held that the facts alleged did not show that the accident resulted proximately, in whole or in part, from that negligence. Accordingly, the Supreme Court of Alabama affirmed the judgment of the Circuit Court of the State. Reynolds v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 251 Ala. 27, 36 So.2d 102.

Mrs. Reynolds' petition for writ of certiorari was granted by the Supreme Court of the United States and on February 14, 1949, the court rendered its decision affirming the decision of the Supreme Court of Alabama. Reynolds, Adm'x v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Co., 336 U.S. 207, 69 S.Ct. 507, 93 L.Ed. 618.

In the meantime, the instant suit was brought on November 8, 1948, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama and on motion of the defendant railroad this action was transferred to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The complaint charges, in general terms, that by reason of a defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, road bed, works or other equipment, and by reason of the negligent failure of the defendant to supply an adequate number of reasonably skilled employees, and because the defendant was generally negligent in the operation, maintenance and control of its engines and cars, the deceased was caused to fall from and be run over by one of the defendant's railroad cars. A pre-trial conference was held and in response to the defendant's requests for admissions the plaintiff admitted that, to the extent that the present...