Boller v. Pennsylvania Railroad

185 F. Supp. 505, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3525
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedJuly 28, 1960
DocketCiv. No. 2166
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 185 F. Supp. 505 (Boller v. Pennsylvania Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Boller v. Pennsylvania Railroad, 185 F. Supp. 505, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3525 (N.D. Ind. 1960).

Opinion

GRANT, District Judge.

The matter presently before this Court is the pre-trial motion of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company for rulings of law: The particular portion thereof, which this order treats, is as follows:

“5. The measure of damages is (á) the cash value determined as of February 1, 1956, of the pecuniary benefits which Constance Lou Corcoran might reasonably have expected to receive from Robert E. Corcoran had he lived but (b) limited, however, to her attainment of the age of twenty one (21) years.”

This is an action brought for the death of Robert E. Corcoran under the provisions of Title 45 U.S.C.A. § 51, more [506]*506commonly referred to as the Employers’ Liability Act. Plaintiffs, by their complaint, allege that the decedent was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in the capacity of conductor of a freight train at Plymouth, Indiana, on February 1, 1956. It is further alleged that the decedent was crushed to death against a siding as a result of the negligence of the defendant in the maintenance of its tracks and the operation of its trains on the above date. It is alleged that the plaintiff’s decedent was survived by his child, Constance Lou Corcoran, who was born on October 16, 1948.

The precise issue confronting the Court may be stated in the following manner:

“Is recovery by a surviving minor child of a deceased employee working in Interstate commerce for the death of her father under the Employers’ Liability Act limited only to pecuniary loss sustained for the duration of her minority or under proper proof of pecuniary loss, may damages be awarded for a period subsequent to attainment of majority as well?”

Title 45 U.S.C.A. § 51 provides that:

“Every common carrier by railroad while engaging in commerce between any of the several States or Territories * * * shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in such commerce, or, in case of the death of such employee, to his or her personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving widow or husband and children of such employee * * * for such injury or death resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agent or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines * * (Emphasis supplied.)

Inasmuch as the text of the Act itself does not specifically treat the precise question presented here, no ready answer is available, but instead, reference must be made to decisions in which the Courts-, have construed the Act.

Seemingly, authorities supporting both the plaintiffs’ argument in favor of recovery for a period beyond attainment of majority, and the defendants’ position denying such recovery can be found.

Turning first to the defendants’ argument, reliance is made principally on certain decisions of the United States Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Teeters v. Pennsylvania R. Co., D.C.W.D.Pa.1954, 118 F.Supp. 385. There is no disagreement among the courts in relation to the well settled principle that recovery under the Act is restricted to pecuniary damages sustained by the surviving dependents. Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. McGinnis, 1913, 228 U.S. 173, 33 S.Ct. 426, 57 L.Ed. 785; Michigan Central Railroad Co. v. Vreeland, 1913, 227 U.S. 59, 33 S.Ct. 192, 57 L.Ed. 417. The defendants assert that the decisions in Norfolk & Western Ry. Co. v. Holbrook, 1915, 235 U.S. 625, 35 S.Ct. 143, 59 L.Ed. 392 and Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co. v. Kelly, 1916, 241 U.S. 485, 36 S.Ct. 630, 60 L.Ed. 1117, are authority for the denial of recovery for pecuniary damages sustained beyond majority. While it must be conceded that in both cases the Supreme Court held it to be error for the trial court to refuse to give an instruction which included the limitation in general terms, nowhere is there an indication of any dispute on this point. The plaintiffs in neither case sought recovery for damages beyond majority. There is no reference made to the evidence to indicate that the plaintiffs attempted to show dependency of surviving minor children beyond majority. In neither case did the Supreme Court discuss this question, but instead, decided the case on other issues with which we are not now concerned and which in no way are authority in support of the defendants’ position here. In the absence of any reference to evidence, it must be assumed that there was no attempt on the part of the plaintiffs to show dependence [507]*507-and damage beyond majority. There can be little dispute, and indeed the plaintiffs here agree, that in the absence of evidence tending to prove dependency after -majority, a minor dependent may recover damages sustained only until attainment of majority. The two decisions of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to which the defendants have called the Court’s attention, Wetherbee v. Elgin, 7 Cir., 1951, 191 F.2d 302 and Stark v. Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railway Co., 7 Cir., 1953, 203 F.2d 786, likewise state in general terms that recovery is limited to the period of minority but wholly fail to give any indication that the plaintiffs there introduced any evidence to support recovery beyond that period. In fact, there is nothing in either decision indicating that the plaintiffs even claimed post-majority damages on behalf of dependent children. These decisions and that in Teeters v. Pennsylvania R. Co., D.C.W.D.Pa.1954, 118 F. Supp. 385, only serve to re-emphasize and support the unanimously established rule that “recovery is limited to the actual pecuniary loss”.

On the other hand, the Court, in Chicago, B. & Q. R. Co. v. Kelley, 8 Cir., 1934, 74 F.2d 80, 85, cited by the defendants, in denying post-majority recovery, under the facts of the case, indicated that under adequate evidentiary proof such recovery would be appropriate, when it said:

“There was no evidence from which the jury could have found any expectation of support for the children after majority. The instruction does not clearly limit the recovery for them to minority, but the last part of the instruction permits consideration of the ages of the children and their probable expectation of life. Right of recovery for these beneficiaries was limited to their minority and the court should have so instructed.” (Emphasis supplied) .

The plaintiffs have called to the Court’s attention many cases, decided under the Act, which subscribe to the rule that a surviving minor dependent child may recover damages for a period beyond majority provided that there is introduced into evidence facts which tend to prove such a reasonable expectation of support after majority. The following statements taken from a few of these cases will suffice to demonstrate the plaintiff’s position and the ruling of this Court.

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Bluebook (online)
185 F. Supp. 505, 1960 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3525, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/boller-v-pennsylvania-railroad-innd-1960.