Valentine v. South Coast Corporation

• Decision Date: 07 June 1963
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 12726.
• Parties: Walter VALENTINE v. The SOUTH COAST CORPORATION and Southern Pacific Company.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana

218 F. Supp. 148

Walter VALENTINE v. The SOUTH COAST CORPORATION and Southern Pacific Company.

Civ. A. No. 12726.

United States District Court E. D. Louisiana, New Orleans Division.

June 7, 1963.

Jack C. Benjamin, New Orleans, La., for plaintiff.

Harry McCall, Jr., New Orleans, La., for defendant.

Civ. A. No. 12726, Division "C".

WEST, District Judge.

Petitioner, Walter Valentine, was injured while in the process of loading bagasse aboard a gondola railroad car. During the course of the loading operations, a sudden movement of the car caused the plaintiff to fall from the car, causing injuries which resulted in the amputation of his right leg. He brings this action for damages against respondents, South Coast Corporation and Southern Pacific Company, pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 51-60, and the Safety Appliance Acts, 45 U.S.C.A. §§ 1-23.

Respondent, Southern Pacific Company, filed a motion for Summary Judgment on the grounds that there is no material issue of fact involved which could justify a judgment against it and in favor of the plaintiff. A careful review of the record in this case leads to the conclusion that the motion for Summary Judgment in favor of respondent, Southern Pacific Company, should be granted.

According to the allegations of the complaint filed by the plaintiff, he was working on a gondola car which was owned and furnished by Southern Pacific Company, when he was injured "due to unsafe locomotive and railroad cars, and their defective equipment". He alleges that he was thrown from the car when it became uncoupled, but there are no specific acts of negligence alleged. Following the filing of the complaint, the plaintiff propounded numerous interrogatories to both respondents, South Coast Corporation and Southern Pacific Company, and both respondents, in turn, propounded interrogatories to the plaintiff. These interrogatories and the answers thereto are a part of the record, and, of course, must be considered along with the pleadings when considering respondent's motion for Summary Judgment.

The answers given under oath by the plaintiff to the interrogatories propounded to him show that he was employed by South Coast Corporation, and that this company paid his wages and controlled and supervised his work. While he did, in the course of his employment with South Coast Corporation, load bagasse on gondola cars owned by Southern Pacific Company, still the Southern Pacific Company did not, as far as he knew, in any way supervise or control his work. He was unable to specify any acts of negligence whatsoever on the part of Southern Pacific Company, and he knew of no violations by Southern Pacific Company of any of the provisions of the Safety Appliance Acts. In other words, in spite of the allegations of his complaint, according to his own testimony, given under oath by answers to written interrogatories, he was employed, supervised and controlled entirely by South Coast Corporation, and all he knew about this accident was that the gondola car on which he was riding either was not coupled to or became uncoupled from the "donkey engine", and that as a result of a sudden movement of the gondola car, he was thrown off and injured.

The sworn answers of Southern Pacific Company to the interrogatories propounded to it by the plaintiff establish that the plaintiff was not in its employ and that Southern Pacific Company knew absolutely nothing of the accident in question. It owned the gondola car in question, but it had turned complete control of it over to South Coast Corporation, who was to load it with bagasse and place it back on Southern Pacific's main siding to be picked up and ultimately moved by Southern Pacific Company to a place designated by South Coast Corporation. Southern Pacific Company did not own, control or supervise the "donkey engine" being used to move the car at the time of the accident. Southern Pacific had no written contract with South Coast Corporation, but was obligated only insofar as the applicable tariff made it obligated. Under the applicable tariff, Southern Pacific had only to furnish the gondola car to South Coast Corporation, and then pick it up after it had been loaded with bagasse by South Coast Corporation. Southern Pacific had no right or duty to supervise or control the loading of the gondola car, nor did it have any right or duty to supervise or control the movement of the gondola car until after it was loaded by South Coast Corporation and made ready for ultimate pick up and movement by Southern Pacific to its ultimate destination.

The answers of South Coast Corporation to the interrogatories propounded by the plaintiff established also that the plaintiff was in its employ as a laborer. The "donkey engine" was owned by the Celotex Company, but was operated and controlled exclusively by South Coast Corporation. There was no written contract of any kind between South Coast Corporation and Southern Pacific aside from the applicable tariff, which only required Southern Pacific to provide the gondola car for loading with bagasse by South Coast Corporation at Colley Switch, and then, after it was loaded, to pick it up on the main spur and transport it to the Celotex Company. While the spur track on which the accident occurred was owned by Southern Pacific, the accident occurred on the property of South Coast Corporation. As a result of the accident, South Coast Corporation paid to the plaintiff the total sum of $10,514.58 in workman's compensation, plus the sum of $2,859.40 medical payments pursuant to the provisions of the Louisiana Workmen's Compensation Laws.

Plaintiff filed of record his affidavit, together with a copy of a freight tariff, No. 15-E. Neither of these documents add anything to the facts clearly established by the answers to the interrogatories alluded to above.

In order for plaintiff to recover damages from Southern Pacific Company for his injuries under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, he must have been an employee, either directly or constructively, of Southern Pacific Company at the time of the accident. 45 U.S.C.A. § 51; Kelly v. Delaware River Joint Commission, D.C., 85 F.Supp. 15; Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co. v. Bond, 240 U.S. 449, 36 S.Ct. 403, 60 L.Ed. 735. While it is true that the question of whether or not one is an employee under the Federal Employers' Liability Act is one of fact to be determined and decided upon the facts of each particular case, Baker v. Texas & Pacific Railway Co., ...