Davis v. Chrisp

252 S.W. 606, 159 Ark. 335, 1923 Ark. LEXIS 79
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 11, 1923
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 252 S.W. 606 (Davis v. Chrisp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Davis v. Chrisp, 252 S.W. 606, 159 Ark. 335, 1923 Ark. LEXIS 79 (Ark. 1923).

Opinion

McCulloch, C. J.

Plaintiff, 0. II. Clirisp, was formerly employed by the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company as a brakeman, and, when the railroad passed into the hands of the United States Government for operation under the act of Congress providing for government control of railroads during the period of the war (act of Congress August 29, 1916), he continued in the employment of the government on that railroad. On January 17, 1917, while plaintiff was engaged in said service as a freight brakeman on a run between Memphis, Tennessee, and Bald Knob, Arkansas, he received serious personal injuries, which resulted in the loss of one of his legs, and the injuries were caused, according to the allegations of the oomplaint and as shown by proof in this case, by the negligence of defendant’s employees in the operation of the railroad.

This action was originally instituted by plaintiff on January 14, 1921, against the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company. The railroad company demurred to the complaint on the ground that it was shown on the face of the complaint that, at the time of .the alleged injury, the railroad property of the company and its operation were under government control, under the provisions of the Federal Control Act. The court sustained the demurrer on January 18, 1921, and on the same day the court made an order, on petition of the plaintiff, directing that James C. Davis, as agent of the government, be made party defendant and that a summons be served on him. Nothing further seems to have been done under that order, so far as this record shows, until August 23, 1921, when the plaintiff filed an amended complaint against Jamos C. Davis, as such agent, alleging the same fasts with respect to the injury and tlie cause thereof as in the original complaint, and alleging that the railroad was under government control. Summons was thereafter duty served on Davis, as agent, and on January 30, 1922, he appeared by counsel and demurred to the amended complaint on the ground that the action against said defendant Davis had not been instituted within two years after the happening of the alleged injury. The court overruled the demurrer, and the defendant then filed his answer, reserving the objections raised on the demurrer, and denying the allegations of the amended complaint with respect to negligence and the cause and extent of plaintiff’s injury. The answer also contained a plea that the alleged injury of plaintiff occurred while lie was engaged in interstate commerce for his employer and was therefore governed by the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, and that the action was not instituted within two years after such injury occurred. There was a trial of the issues before a jury, which resulted in a judgment in favor of plaintiff for the recovery of a large sum as damages.

It is undisputed, both in the pleadings and the proof, that plaintiff’s injury occurred on January 17, 1917, while he was engaged in the service of defendant, which constituted interstate commerce.

The first and principal contention of counsel for defendant as grounds for reversal is that the trial court had no authority, under our statute, to allow an amendment to the complaint substituting as defendant a new party, against whom there was alleged to be a cause of action, in the place of an original defendant, against whom there was no cause of action; that this was tantamount to the commencement of a new action after the expiration of the time allowed by the Federal statute for bringing such action. It is the contention of counsel for plaintiff that the substitution of a new party was permissible as an amendment to the complaint stating the same cause of action as in the original complaint, and that the substitution related back to the commencement of the action against the railroad company.

Tlie Federal Employers’ Liability Act (sec. 6‘) provides that no action may be maintained under the statute unless commenced within two years from the day the cause of action accrued. IT. S. Comp. Stat., § 8662. The rule seems to be established by all of the authorities on the subject that, where a statute creates a right of action unknown at common law and also specifies the time within which the action may be commenced, it operates as a condition of liability thus created, and not merely as a period of limitation. Anthony v. Railway Co., 108 Ark. 219; Partee v. Railroad Co., 204 Fed. 970; Rodman v. Railway Co., 65 Kas. 645; Kerley v. Hoelham, 8 A. L. R (Okla.) 141; Porter v. St. Louis-San Francisco Ry. Co., 51 L. R A. (N. S.) 721.

' Counsel for plaintiff cite cases — especially the decision of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in Genga v. New York, N. H. & H. Ry. Co., 137 N. E. 637—which support their contention that, under statutes similar to ours on the subject of amendments, a new party defendant may be substituted after the expiration of the period of limitation so as to relate back to the commencement of the original action and to prevent the bar of the statute, but this court is firmly committed to the contrary rule. Our statute (Crawford & Moses’ Digest, § 1239) reads as follows:

“The court may, at any time, in furtherance of justice, and on such terms as may be proper, amend any pleadings or proceedings by adding or striking out the name of any party, or by correcting' a mistake in the name of a party, or a mistake in any other respect, or by inserting other allegations material to the case; or, when- the amendment does not change substantially the claim of defense, by conforming the pleading or proceeding to the facts proved.”

Another section (1101) provides that “when a determination of the controversy between the parties before the court cannot be made without the presence of other parties, the court must order them to be brought in.”

This court lias repeatedly decided that these statutes are uot broad enough to authorize a substitution of a new party for one in whose favor or against whom there is no right of action. State v. Rottaken, 34 Ark. 144; Railway Co. v. State, 56 Ark. 166; Schiele v. Dillard, 94 Ark. 277; Coleman v. Floyd, 105 Ark. 300.

Judge Battle, as special Justice, speaking for the court in the case of State v. Rottaken, supra, after referring to the Code provision set forth above, said:

“Tins provision of the Code assumes that the plaintiff has a cause of action, and does not authorize the court in any case, where the plaintiff has failed to show any cause of action, to amend by adding the name of a party in whose favor a cause of action is shown by the complaint to exist, because such a proceeding would be practically instituting a new action, and forcing a party, at the instance of one who has no right to demand it, to commence an action when he does not wish to do so. Broad and. liberal as the provisions of the statute of amendments are, we see no authority in them for such a proceeding. ’ ’

In Schiele v. Dillard, supra, the court said:

“The appellants sought, by amendment to their complaint, to substitute new parties defendant. This could not be done. While the court may, in its discretion, al.low additional parties plaintiff or defendant to be added or struck out, it cannot make an entire change of parties plaintiff or defendant. That would be tantamount to a new suit between entirely different parties.”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pruitt v. Pruitt
609 S.W.2d 84 (Court of Appeals of Arkansas, 1980)
Childs v. Philpot
487 S.W.2d 637 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1972)
Schellhorn v. Williams
58 N.W.2d 361 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1953)
Wilson v. Missouri Pac. R.
58 F. Supp. 844 (E.D. Arkansas, 1945)
Fitzpatrick v. Pitcairn
20 N.E.2d 280 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1939)
Floyd Plant Food Co. v. Moore
122 S.W.2d 463 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1938)
Fitzpatrick v. Pitcairn
16 N.E.2d 764 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1938)
Renner v. Progressive Life Insurance
109 S.W.2d 1245 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1937)
Adders v. United States
5 F. Supp. 457 (E.D. New York, 1933)
McGraw v. Miller
44 S.W.2d 366 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1931)
Alarid v. Gordon
2 P.2d 117 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1931)
Mellon v. Purse Bros.
138 S.E. 647 (Supreme Court of Virginia, 1927)
Davis v. Arkansas Land & Lumber Co.
280 S.W. 364 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1926)
Natoli v. Davis
242 P. 895 (California Court of Appeal, 1925)
Pennsylvania Rd. Co. v. Oberlander
149 N.E. 401 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1925)
United States ex rel. Rauch v. Davis
8 F.2d 907 (D.C. Circuit, 1925)
Davis v. L. L. Cohen & Co.
268 U.S. 638 (Supreme Court, 1925)
Lehigh Valley Cold Storage Co. v. P. & R. Ry. Co.
6 Pa. D. & C. 518 (Northampton County Court of Common Pleas, 1925)
Weiss v. Director General of Railroads
144 N.E. 765 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1924)
Pierson v. Davis
224 P. 235 (Montana Supreme Court, 1924)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
252 S.W. 606, 159 Ark. 335, 1923 Ark. LEXIS 79, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-chrisp-ark-1923.