Wells Fargo Co v. Taylor

• Decision Date: 06 December 1920
• Docket Number: No. 41,41
• Citation: 254 U.S. 175,65 L.Ed. 205,41 S.Ct. 93
• Parties: WELLS FARGO & CO. v. TAYLOR
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

254 U.S. 175

41 S.Ct. 93

65 L.Ed. 205

WELLS FARGO & CO.

v TAYLOR.

No. 41.

Argued Dec. 19, 1919.

Decided Dec. 6, 1920.

Messrs. Charles W. Stockton, Branch P. Kerfoot, and Edward R. Whittingham, all of New York City, for petitioner.

Mr. Thomas Fite Paine, of Aberdeen, Miss., for respondent.

Mr. Justice VAN DEVANTER delivered the opinion of the Court.

Oscar G. Taylor, an express messenger of Wells Fargo & Co. a common carrier by express, received substantial personal injuries through the derailment of an express car in which he was working, and which was part of a passenger train moving over the railroad of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company in the state of Mississippi—the derailment resulting from negligence on the part of the railroad company and its employes. To recover for these injuries Taylor brought an action against the railroad company in the circuit court of Monroe county, Mississippi, and obtained a judgment for $4,000, which was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the state without an opinion. See St. Louis & S. F. Ry. Co. v. Taylor, 58 South. 485.

In his declaration in that case Taylor explained and justified his presence on the train and in the express car by alleging that he was then in the employ of the express company as its messenger and in the course of that employment was in charge of express matter which the railroad company was transporting for the express company, that this transportation was in pursuance of a contract between the two companies, and that under the contract the express car was furnished by the railroad company and he, as the express company's messenger, was permitted to accompany the express matter carried therein.

While the declaration said nothing more about the nature or terms of that contract, it is important here to have them in mind. The contract shows that it was intended to, and did, cover all express business on and over the railroad company's road, both within and without the state of Mississippi, for a specified period, including the day when Taylor was injured. It gave to the express company the exclusive privilege of conducting an express business on and over the railroad and obligated the railroad company to refrain from conducting an express business. There were provisions whereby the railroad company agreed (a) to transport by suitable cars, to be provided by it and attached to its passenger trains, all express matter of the express company and the messengers accompanying the same; (b) to light and warm the cars and equip them with necessary conveniences; and (c) to permit portions of its station houses to be used by the express company for the reception, safe keeping and delivery of express matter. And there were other provisions whereby the express company agreed (a) to make stated payments usually a percentage of the gross earnings—for the facilities furnished and service rendered by the railroad company; (b) to assume all risks, losses and damages to its own property, express matter and valuable packages transported under the contract; (c) to assume all risk and damage to its agents and employes while engaged in its business on the trains or property of the railroad company; and (d) to indemnify and hold harmless the railroad company in respect of all claims for damages suffered by such agents and employes while so engaged.

There was also a contract between Taylor and the express company, spoken of as a messenger's agreement, wherein—following a recital that he had full knowledge of the service required and the conditions on which the railroad company would permit messengers to accompany express matter on its trains, and that with such knowledge he was desirous of becoming a messenger of the express company—it was stipulated, as a term or condition of his employment, that neither the express company nor the railroad company should under any circumstances or in any case be liable for any injury which he might receive while on the railroad company's trains as such messenger, whether caused by negligence of the railroad company or otherwise, and that he would assume all and every risk incident to such employment, from whatever cause arising.

Promptly after Taylor sued the railroad company in the circuit court of Monroe county, and before the case was brought to trial, the express company presented to that court in that cause a petition wherein it set out the contracts just described and asked to be made a party defendant. To this the railroad company assented, but Taylor evidently objected and the petition was denied. The railroad company by its answer and evidence sought to avail itself of the stipulation in the messenger's agreement, in connection with those in the other contract, but the court ruled against it and Taylor obtained the judgment before mentioned.

What has been recited will conduce to a right understanding of another suit the decree in which we are now to review.

The suit is in equity and was brought by the express company against Taylor in the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of Mississippi. The federal jurisdiction rests on diversity of citizenship—the express company being a corporation and citizen of Colorado, and Taylor a citizen of Mississippi residing in the Northern district. The bill, with a supplement and amendment, proceeds on the theory that, in suing the railroad company and obtaining a judgment against it, which as between that company and the express company must be paid by the latter as stipulated in their contract. Taylor not only violated the messenger's agreement, but perpetrated a legal fraud on the express company; that the judgment is therefore one which in equity and good conscience he has no right to enforce; that if he be permitted to enforce it the express company will be without any effective remedy in that he has no property which can be reached by legal process (a fact which is both alleged and proved); and that the express company, which was not a party to that case, and has not been in any wise negligent or at fault, is in equity and good conscience entitled to have the messenger's agreement respected and to demand that the claims embraced in the inequitable judgment be relinquished and the enforcement of the judgment enjoined. The prayer conforms to that theory and is in substance that Taylor be required specifically to perform and carry out the messenger's agreement, to execute a sufficient release of all claims on account of the injuries received, and to abstain from enforcing the judgment. General relief also is prayed.

Taylor challenged the bill by a demurrer, which was overruled, and after a hearing in due course the express company prevailed. On appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals that decree was reversed and the suit remanded because in that court's opinion the bill did not show that Taylor was not in the employ of the railroad company or that he was solely in the employ of the express company. Taylor v. Wells Fargo & Co., 220 Fed. 796, 136 C. C. A. 402. After the mandate was received, Taylor conceiving that the decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals fully disposed of the merits and was final, requested the District Court to enter a decree dismissing the bill, and the express company requested leave to amend the bill by correcting the defect pointed out by the Circuit Court of Appeals. Taylor's request was denied and that of the express company was granted. The bill was accordingly amended so as to show that Taylor was not in the employ of the railroad company, but was on the train solely in virtue of his employment by the express company, and that in his declaration in the action against the railroad company he did not claim or allege any employment by that company, but, on the contrary, claimed and alleged that it permitted him to be on the train because he was accompanying the express matter as the express company's employe. Taylor then filed a new answer, and on a further hearing a decree for the express company was entered. By it the District Court found that the allegations of the bill, with its supplement and amendment, were all true; declared that the institution of the action against the railroad company and its prosecution to judgment constituted a violation of the messenger's agreement and a legal fraud on the express company; directed Taylor to carry out and perform the messenger's agreement and to execute, within a fixed time, an appropriate instrument releasing the express company and the railroad company from all claims for damages on account of his injuries; and enjoined him from collecting or attempting to collect the judgment against the railroad company. On a further appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals that decree was reversed with directions to dismiss the bill. Taylor v. Wells Fargo & Co., 249 Fed. 109, 161 C. C. A. 161. A writ of certiorari was then granted by this court, 247 U. S. 515, 38 Sup. Ct. 581, 62 L. Ed. 1244.

On the second appeal the Circuit Court of Appeals put its decision entirely on the ground that the express company was a 'common carrier by railroad' within the meaning of the Employers' Liability Act of April 22, 1908, c. 149, 35 Stat. 65 (Comp. St. §§ 8657-8665), and therefore under section 5 of the act (section 8661) the messenger's agreement was void. Taylor advanced that and other grounds in asking a reversal, but the court did not discuss the other grounds. All are pressed on our attention, and we take them up in what seems the natural order.

1. It is urged that the decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals on the first appeal was final in that it disposed of all questions in the suit and left nothing open to the District Court but to dismiss the bill. Had this been so, the Circuit Court of Appeals on the second appeal hardly would have failed to enforce its prior decision. But that decision did not go as far as is claimed. It turned on the sufficiency of the bill, and on that alone. The District...