Bradford Electric Light Co. v. Clapper

51 F.2d 992, 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 3008
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedJanuary 8, 1931
DocketNo. 2465
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 51 F.2d 992 (Bradford Electric Light Co. v. Clapper) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bradford Electric Light Co. v. Clapper, 51 F.2d 992, 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 3008 (1st Cir. 1931).

Opinions

WILSON, Circuit Judge.

This is an action under the Lord Campbell Act of New Hampshire, sections 9-14, c. 302, Pub. Laws 1926, to recover for injuries resulting in the death of the plaintiff’s intestate and alleged to have occurred through the negligence of the defendant corporation.

The defendant in the action and appellant in this court is a publie utility corporation organized under the laws of Vermont, and having its principal place of business in the town of Bradford in Vermont. It is engaged in furnishing electric current for publie uses in both Vermont and New Hampshire. The plaintiff’s intestate was a resident of Bradford, but received his injuries in the course of his employment in the state of New Hampshire.

The contract of employment of the plaintiff’s intestate was entered into in Vermont. His work was that of a lineman, and at times he performed the duties of a “trouble shooter,” or an emergency man, who might be sent out at any time to repair sudden breaks in the lines.

In the evening of the day on which his injuries occurred, he was requested to go across the Connecticut river to restore bumed-out fuses at a substation in the town of Haver-hill, which lies on the east hank of the river in the state of New Hampshire, where in the course of his work he came in contact with high-tension wires and received the injuries which caused his death.

The action was originally brought in the New Hampshire superior court, and on petition of the defendant was removed to the federal District Court on the ground of diversity of citizenship; the plaintiff being a citizen and a resident of New Hampshire. On the third trial before a jury, it resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff for $4,000.

Vermont in 1915 (Pub. Laws 1915, No. 164) adopted what is known as a Workman’s Compensation Act of the elective type, common in most of the states, under which either the employer or employee could adopt its provisions or retain his rights at common law. To induce the employer to assent to be bound by its provisions, he was, in case of refusal, deprived of his common-law defenses of assumption of risk, negligence of a fellow servant, and contributory negligence; while the employee, in case he did not assent, must meet those defenses in addition to proving that his injuries were due to his employer’s negligence. In case both assented and the employee suffered injury arising out of, and in the course of, his employment, he received compensation based on his average weekly wage during his incapacity, whether his employer was negligent or not, and even though his injury was due entirely to his own negligence, or to that of a fellow servant, or was the result of pure accident.

Both employer and employee under the Vermont act, as in many of the compensation [994]*994acts of other states, are presumed to have accepted the act unless notice is given to the contrary. As the court of one state has put it, the failure to give such notice creates an irrebuttable presumption of assent. American Radiator Co. v. Rogge, 86 N. J. Law, 436, 92 A. 85, 94 A. 85.

Such provisions for the acceptance of the act have always been held sufficient to hind the parties, and in no ease has any such statute been held invalid as against public policy, or in violation of any constitutional provision on this ground. Opinion of the Justices, 209 Mass. 607, 610, 611, 96 N. E. 308; Mackin v. Detroit-Timkin Axle Co., 187 Mich. 8, 153 N. W. 49; American Radiator Co. v. Rogge, supra; Johnston v. Kennecott Copper Corp. (C. C. A.) 248 F. 407; Hopkins v. Matchless Metal Polish Co., 99 Conn. 457, 460, 121 A. 828; Crane v. Leonard, Crossette & Riley, 214 Mich. 218, 183 N. W. 204, 18 A. L. R. 285; Industrial Commission v. Ins. Co., 64 Colo. 480, 174 P. 589, 3 A. L. R. 1336; Rounsaville v. Railroad Co., 87 N. J. Law, 371, 94 A. 392; Pierce v. Storage Co., 185 Iowa, 1346, 172 N. W. 191; Foughty v. Ott, 80 W. Va. 88, 92 S. E. 143; State ex rel. Chambers v. District Court, 139 Minn. 205, 166 N. W. 185, 3 A. L. R. 1347; Anderson v. Miller Scrap Iron Co., 169 Wis. 106, 170 N. W. 275, 171 N. W. 935; Post v. Burger & Gohlke, 216 N. Y. 544, 111 N. E. 351, Ann. Cas. 1916B, 158; Hospers v. J. Hungerford Smith Co., 230 N. Y. 616, 130 N. E. 916.

It is also generally held that such a statute on acceptance by both parties becomes a part of the contract of employment and is exclusive of all other remedies in ease of injuries. Kennerson v. Thames Towboat Co., 89 Conn. 367, 371, 94 A. 372, L. R. A. 1916A, 436; Powers v. Hotel Bond Co., 89 Conn. 143, 147, 93 A. 245; Hopkins v. Matchless Metal Polish Co., 99 Conn. 457, 460, 121 A. 828; Gooding v. Ott, 77 W. Va. 487, 87 S. E. 862, L. R. A. 1918D, 637; Hunter v. Coal Co., 175 Iowa, 245, 154 N. W. 1037, 157 N. W. 145, L. R. A. 1917D, 15, Ann. Cas. 1917E, 803; Deeny v. Wright & Cobb Lighterage Co., 36 N. J. Law J. 121; Industrial Commission v. Ins. Co., supra; Dettloff v. Hammond, Standish & Co., 195 Mich. 117, 161 N. W. 949; Grinnell v. Wilkinson, 39 R. I. 447, 98 A. 103, L. R. A. 1917B, 767, Ann. Cas. 1918B, 618; Barnhart v. American Concrete Steel Co., 227 N. Y. 531, 125 N. E. 675; Martin v. Kennecott Copper Corp. (D. C.) 252 F. 207.

In terms, the Vermont act, section 5770, G. L. 1917, covers injuries to employees who are hired in that state, but whose employment requires them to perform work in another state where they are injured. It is now held with but few, if any, exceptions, at least under elective acts, and whether in terms covering injuries in another state or not, that, when assented to by both parties, a compensation act of the state of employment, at least in so far as it is administered in that state, will cover injuries received in the course of the employment in another state. In this sense such acts are said to have an extraterritorial effect. See eases above cited.

Massachusetts, in construing its original act in an early decision, Gould’s Case, 215 Mass. 480, 102 N. E. 693, Ann. Cas. 1914D, 372, held the contrary, and this decision was followed in a few states; hut Massachusetts since its decision in the Gould Case has amended its act, and in a recent decision, Penderzoli’s Case, 169 N. E. 427, decided January 3, 1930, now holds its act under a contract of employment entered into in Massachusetts covers injuries received by the employee in another state. The great weight of authority now sustains this construction as the most practical. Otherwise great confusion would result as to the rights and obligations of employer and employee, where employees are sent out of the state to do work.

In this case, as neither the defendant corporation nor the plaintiff’s intestate gave notice of a refusal to assent to the Vermont act, both were bound by it, and its provisions became a part of the contract of employment and covered all injuries, whether received in Vermont or New Hampshire, and for which under the Vermont act no action at common law based on negligence would lie. See eases above cited.

There can be no doubt, therefore, if the proceedings had been brought under the Vermont statute, the plaintiff’s intestate could have recovered only the sum provided where there are no dependents; and herein lies the reason for this action. The deceased had no dependents, and, as is provided in all such acts, including that of New Hampshire, in such eases only a comparatively small sum to provide for burial expenses is allowed.

As the court said in Wasilewski v. Warner Sugar Refining Co., 87 Misc. Rep. 156, 149 N. Y. S.

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Bluebook (online)
51 F.2d 992, 1931 U.S. App. LEXIS 3008, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bradford-electric-light-co-v-clapper-ca1-1931.