Barker v. Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway Co.

146 P. 358, 94 Kan. 176, 1915 Kan. LEXIS 65
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedFebruary 6, 1915
DocketNo. 19,217
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 146 P. 358 (Barker v. Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Barker v. Kansas City, Mexico & Orient Railway Co., 146 P. 358, 94 Kan. 176, 1915 Kan. LEXIS 65 (kan 1915).

Opinion

[177]*177The opinion of the court was delivered by

Porter, J.:

This is an appeal by the railway company from a judgment in plaintiff’s favor for injuries sustained while in its employ.

When the case was here before, Barker v. Railway Co., 88 Kan. 767, 129 Pac. 1151, a judgment in plaintiff’s favor-was reversed on account of error in the admission of evidence, and because the instructions assumed some of the facts in issue. The action was brought under the federal employers’ liability act (35 U. S. Stat. at L., p. 65), and one of the questions is whether at the time he received his inj uries the plaintiff was engaged in interstate commerce work.

The plaintiff was the fireman of a switch engine. The crew was ordered to take the engine from Altus, Okla., where it was in use, to Clinton, Okla., to have some work done upon it. The day following, on the return trip from Clinton to Altus, the derailment occurred which caused the plaintiff’s injuries, and at this time the train consisted, besides the engine, of one water car and nine cars loaded with coal. The defendant concedes that it was engaged generally in the business' of transporting interstate commerce on its line of railway between Altus, Okla., and Wichita, Kan., but denies that in hauling the coal or train in question it was transporting interstate commerce. Stated in another way, the contention is that the work plaintiff was doing at the time of the injury had no real and substantial connection with interstate commerce.

On the second trial the jury found that the destination of the switch engine and train at the time the injury occurred was Altus, Okla.; that the destination of the water car was Dill City, Okla.; that the train started from Clinton, Okla.; that the origin of the nine cars of coal was McCurtain, Okla., and their destination Altus, Okla., consigned to N. J. O’Brien, vice president of the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient [178]*178Railway Company of Texas, for use on engines running south of Altus into Texas, and for engines running north into Oklahoma.

The plaintiff testified that they were taking the .coal to Altus for use on engines running north into Oklahoma and south into Texas; that there was a coal yard at Altus kept by the company; that coal of this kind taken to Altus would be scooped out of the cars onto the tenders of the engines.

The decisions as to what will constitute interstate commerce in a case like this were quite fully reviewed in a former opinion (88 Kan. 767), and it will not be necessary to refer to them at length here. The findings in the present case are conclusive, and show that the movement of the coal from McCurtain to a consignee at Altus, Okla., was intrastate. Of course, cases where the intention of the shipper when the property was first started in transit was to forward it to a foreign destination have no application to the facts of the present case. The cars were consigned to Altus, Okla., and there the shipment ended. The most that can be said is that the plaintiff was handling coal which at a later date might become a part of an instrumentality used in the transportation of interstate commerce. But this fact alone could not make him an employee engaged in interstate commerce. The several cars of coal being transported at the time plaintiff received his injuries were to be unloaded at Altus, their bulk broken, and some portions thereof afterwards were to be used for fuel on engines running into other states. The situation would be no different if, instead of coal, the shipment had consisted of articles intended to be used in the repair of a locomotive running from Altus into Texas. In such a case the mere fact that the consignee intended to attach the articles to a locomotive engaged in interstate commerce would not make the shipment between Clinton, Okla., and Altus, Okla., interstate in character.

[179]*179In Pederson v. Del., Lack. v. West. R. R., 229 U. S. 146, it was held that:

“One engaged in the work of maintaining tracks, bridges, engines or cars in proper condition after they have become and during their use as instrumentalities of interstate commerce, is engaged in interstate commerce, and this even if those instrumentalities are used, in both interstate and intrastate commerce.” (Syl. ¶ 2.}

It was said, however, in the opinion:

“Of course, we are not here concerned with the construction of tracks, bridges, engines or cars which have not as yet become instrumentalities in such commerce, but only with the work of maintaining them in proper condition after they have become such instrumental-ities and during their use as such.” (p. 152.)

In Heimbach v. Lehigh Valley R. Co., 197 Fed. 579, it was held:

“Employees of a railroad company, injured while repairing a car of another company which had reached the end of its run, been unloaded, and was lying at a station awaiting orders, were not at the time employed in interstate commerce within Employer’s Liability Act April 22, 1908, c. 149, § 1, 85 Stat. 65 (U. S. Comp. St. Supp. 1911, p. 1322).” (Syl.)'

As tending to support the same doctrine, see Ill. Cent. R. R. v. Behrens, 233 U. S. 473, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 646; Pierson v. N. Y., S. & W. R. R. Co., 83 N. J. Law, 661, 85 Atl. 233; L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Ohio Valley Tie Co., 148 Ky. 718, 147 S. W. 421; Oregon R. & Navigation Co. v. Campbell, 180 Fed. 253; Jackson v. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. Co., 210 Fed. 495.

The finding of the jury that at the time of his injury plaintiff was engaged in interstate commerce is overturned by the special findings, which establish that he was not so engaged. Besides, the court erroneously charged the jury, in substance, that it would constitute interstate commerce in this case if the shipper, or the defendant, intended that the coal, when it reached its destination at Altus, should be loaded upon tenders of [180]*180locomotives for use on trips extending into Texas. For these reasons the judgment must be reversed.

The petition alleged a cause of action under the general law aside from the federal employers’ liability act, but the defendant insists that the judgment should be reversed because certain findings of the jury are in conflict with the undisputed evidence, and further, that there was error in the instructions. Two of the special findings are as follows:

■ “Question 2. Did plaintiff know or could he by the exercise of ordinary care have known before leaving Clinton for Altus that the track at the place where the derailment occurred was rough and uneven? Ans. No.

“Question 3. Did plaintiff know before leaving Clinton for Altus on the day of the accident that it was dangerous and unsafe to run or operate said engine over the rough and uneven track at a rate of speed of eight to ten miles per hour? Ans. No.”

The jury also found, in answer to question No. 6, that plaintiff, before leaving Clinton for Altus, did not know that the switch engine was not proper or safe to run over the track between those stations. The plaintiff testified as follows:

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111 A. 715 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1920)
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148 P. 764 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 1915)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
146 P. 358, 94 Kan. 176, 1915 Kan. LEXIS 65, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/barker-v-kansas-city-mexico-orient-railway-co-kan-1915.