Seaboard Air Line Railway v. Ernest Duvall

• Decision Date: 10 June 1912
• Docket Number: No. 304,304
• Citation: 225 U.S. 477,32 S.Ct. 790,56 L.Ed. 1171
• Parties: SEABOARD AIR LINE RAILWAY, Plff. in Err., v. ERNEST N. DUVALL
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

225 U.S. 477

32 S.Ct. 790

56 L.Ed. 1171

SEABOARD AIR LINE RAILWAY, Plff. in Err.,

v ERNEST N. DUVALL.

No. 304.

Argued April 30, 1912.

Decided June 10, 1912.

Messrs. Walter H. Neal, Benjamin Micou, Hilary A. Herbert, Richard P. Whiteley, and E. T. Cansler for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 478-481 intentionally omitted] Mr. William C. Douglass for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Lurton delivered the opinion of the court:

This was an action by an employee of the plaintiff in error to recover damages for severe and permanent personal injuries alleged to have been received while in its service. The plaintiff alleged that he was baggage master and flagman on one of the defendant's passenger trains, running from Portsmouth, Virginia, to Monroe, North Carolina. That a head-on collision occurred with another of defendant's trains, whereby plaintiff and others were injured, and that the collision was due to the negligence of defendant's officers and agents. The answer was, in substance, a general denial for want of knowledge. There was a jury, verdict and judgment for the defendant in error, which was later affirmed by the supreme court of the state. This writ of error was allowed by the chief justice of that court upon the ground that 'there was drawn into question a right, privilege, or immunity claimed by the railroad company under a statute of the United States, and the decision was against such right, privilege, or immunity so claimed and specially set up by said defendant,' etc. Such a certificate is, however, not sufficient to confer jurisdiction to review the judgment of a state court under § 709 Revised Statutes (U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 575). That there was set up and denied some claim or right under the Constitution or a statute of the United States must appear upon the record; and such a certificate is only of value to make more definite or certain that the Federal right was definitely asserted and decided. Sayward v. Denny, 158 U. S. 180, 183, 39 L. ed. 941, 942, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 777; Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Smith, H. & Co. 204 U. S. 551, 51 L. ed. 612, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 401.

The Federal question relied upon to sustain the writ of error to this court concerns the construction and application of the Employers' liability act of April 22, 1908 (35 Stat. at L. 65, chap. 149, U. S. Comp. Stat. Supp. 1911, p. 1322). Neither the complaint nor the answer makes any direct reference to that act; but the complaint did allege that the railroad company was operating a line of railroad between Portsmouth, Virginia, and Monroe, North Carolina, and that the plaintiff, while in its employment as baggage master and flagman upon a passenger train running between said points, was negligently injured by a head-on collision. This states a ground of action under that act, and it was so assumed by the trial court, as appears from that part of the charge relating to the effect of contributory negligence, as well as from some of the questions made in the supreme court of the state.

That the collision was due to negligence was conceded. The only defense which seems to have been made was that, under the rules of the company, the plaintiff was required to remain in the baggage car; but that he was hurt while in the express car, a place where, it is claimed, his duty did not call him, and therefore, he was not injured while employed in the service of the company, or engaged in any duty his employment devolved upon him.

The case was submitted upon these issues, and the finding of the jury upon each was as follows:

'1. Was the plaintiff injured by the negligence of the defendant? Answer. Yes.

'2. Was the plaintiff's injury caused by his contributory negligence? Answer. No.

'3. What damage is the plaintiff entitled to recover? Answer. $30,000.'

Four requests for special charges, which bear upon this defense and which were denied, have been assigned here as error reviewable by this court. They were as follows:

'1. That where an employee undertakes to do something not his duty to do, the master is not negligent; and if the jury shall find by the greater weight of the evidence that the plaintiff was acting outside of the scope of his employment when he was injured, they will find the first issue 'No.'

'3. That as the plaintiff admits that he was in the express car at the time of his injuries, and as the rules of the receivers of the defendant (of which he admits he had that notice) required him to remain in the baggage car when not engaged in flagging the train, the burden is upon the plaintiff to satisfy the jury by the greater weight of evidence, that when he went into said express car, and was injured, he was engaged in the discharge of the duties of his employment; and if he has failed to so satisfy the jury, you will answer the first issue 'No.'

'4. That unless the jury shall find by the greater weight of the evidence that when the plaintiff went into the express car, he understood that he was going there to discharge some of the duties of his employment, the defendant's negligence in causing the derailment of said car would not be the proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries, and the jury will answer the first issue 'No.'

'6. The admitted rules of the receivers of the defendant required the plaintiff to remain in the baggage car when not engaged in flagging the train, and the plaintiff had no right to go into the express car in violation of the provisions of the said rules, unless the conductor ordered him to do so for the purpose of discharging some one of the duties of his employment; and unless the jury shall find by the greater weight of the evidence that when the conductor told the plaintiff to go with him into said car, he thereby understood that the conductor wished him to go to discharge his duties as an employee of the defendant, the jury will answer the first issue 'No."

The plaintiff in error also excepted to a part of the court's charge which was in these words:

'If you find from the evidence that the plaintiff had no right to go into the express car; that he was not where he should have been; and you further find that he would not have been injured but for his going into the express car, and that his going into the express car was such an act on his part that a reasonably prudent man ordinarily would not have done under the circumstances of the situation, then he would be guilty of contributory negligence, and it would be your duty to answer the second issue 'Yes:' If you do not so find, it would be your duty to answer the second issue 'No."

Not one of the requests asks any definite constrcuction of any part of the employers' liability act, or, indeed, contains any reference whatever to the act.

They are based alone upon the admitted facts that at the time of the collision the plaintiff was in the express car, and that there was a rule of the company requiring him to be in the baggage car. They assume that, in being in the express car, he was where he had no right to be; and that if injured while there, the jury must acquit the company of negligence, and upon that issue find for the railroad company. The requests take no account of the legal effect of other evidence in the case. Thus, there was evidence tending to show that the express car was used for through baggage, and that baggage was often received from the platform into the express car, and carried to the adjacent baggage car. There was also evidence tending to show that the rule referred to was not enforced, and that the baggage master and express messenger frequently exchanged work, and that this was known to the conductor, who made no objection. There was also evidence tending to show that...