Kraemer v. Chicago & North Western Railway Co.

181 N.W. 847, 148 Minn. 310, 1921 Minn. LEXIS 523
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedMarch 11, 1921
DocketNo. 21,961
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 181 N.W. 847 (Kraemer v. Chicago & North Western Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kraemer v. Chicago & North Western Railway Co., 181 N.W. 847, 148 Minn. 310, 1921 Minn. LEXIS 523 (Mich. 1921).

Opinion

Dibell, J.

Action by Alice Kraemer, as administratrix of Edwin C. Kraemer,' against the Chicago and North Western Eailway Company, to recover damages for his death. There was judgment for the defendant and the plaintiff appeals.

The ease was submitted upon a stipulation of evidentiary facts. These facts the court found true. It found specifically that the deceased was not employed in interstate commerce. There was a general finding or conclusion that the plaintiff was entitled to no relief except under the compensation act of Michigan, where the death of the deceased occurred While in the employ of the defendant. The submission of the controversy with[312]*312out findings of the ultimate facts in issue makes our work somewhat more difficult. But the following queries suggest all the points made against or in support of the judgment:

(1) Whether the deceased was employed in interstate commerce, so as ■to be within the Federal Employers’ Liability Act?

(2) Whether, if the deceased was not employed in interstate commerce, and if death resulted from a violation by the defendant of the Safety Appliance Act, he was engaged in a train movement, in which event there could be a recovery, or in a switching movement, in which event there could not be ? In this connection no question is made but that the Safety Appliance Act applies to an intrastate train movement on an interstate road.

(3) Whether, if the deceased was engaged in intrastate commerce and was injured by reason of the failure of the defendant to observe the Safety Appliance Act, his personal representative can recover for his death, the Safety Appliance Act not being in express terms a survival statute, and not naming the beneficiaries?

(4) Whether, if the deceased was engaged in intrastate commerce and was killed by a failure of the defendant to observe the Safety Appliance Act, a recovery in an action based on the statute is prevented by the Workmen’s Compensation Act of Michigan, where the accident occurred, the compensation act being in terms applicable and the deceased''subject to it?

(5) Whether the failure to observe the Safety Appliance Act was a proximate cause of the death of the deceased?

1. The defendant railway company is engaged in interstate commerce. The plaintiff’s intestate was in its employ. The defendant has lines in Michigan and Wisconsin and in other states. A line passes through Quinnesec, Michigan. From this station a stub or spur line runs in a southerly direction across the Menominee river, which is the boundary between Michigan and Wisconsin, to a paper mill on the south bank of the river. The distance from Quinnesec is three miles. The paper mill location is called Niagara. There is no station there. No through trains reach it. The railroad serves the one industry. On the north bank of the river the paper mill has a woodyard. Cars are taken back and forth from Quinnesec to the paper mill and to the -woodyard by switch engines un[313]*313der the supervision of the yard foreman without train orders. Cabooses are not used. There are switches and sidetracks at the paper mill and at the woodyard.

On the morning pf the day of his death, the deceased did some switching at the paper mill. In the afternoon he took his engine to Quinnesee. Then he went to the woodyard and brought back seven cars of wood and pulp. They were placed on a siding to await disposition. Their final destination was not shown. Then he went to the woodyard intending to bring back 17 empties which had been unloaded there two days before. They consisted of flat cars and box ears and gondolas. He started back with them for Quinnesee. The oars had no destination other than Quinnesee. They were to be put on a siding there to await orders. They might go anywhere. It does not appear that they had come from without, or were ever to go without, Michigan. Within the controlling decisions the plaintiff was not employed in interstate commerce within the Federal Employers’ Liability Act. Comp. St. § 8657, et seq. The following eases are illustrative: Pedersen v. Delaware, L. & W. R. Co. 229 U. S. 146, 33 Sup. Ct. 648, 57 L. ed 1125, Ann. Cas. 1914C. 153; Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Behrens, 233 U. S. 473, 34 Sup. Ct. 646, 58 L. ed. 1051, Ann. Cas. 1914C, 163; Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. Peery, 242 U. S. 292, 37 Sup. Ct. 122, 61 L. ed. 309. In reaching this conclusion we do not forget the principle that one may be engaged in work so incidental and so related to interstate commerce as to be within the protection of the liability act, nor do we overlook the recent cases of Erie R. Co. v. Collins, 253 U. S. 77, 40 Sup. Ct. 450, 64 L. ed. 790, and Erie R. Co. v. Szary, 253 U. S. 86, 40 Sup. Ct. 454, 64 L. ed. 794.

2. The Safety Appliance Act applies to an interstate road, though the injury occurs in an intrastate train movement. Texas & P. Co. v. Rigsby, 241 U. S. 33, 36 Sup. Ct. 482, 60 L. ed. 874. It is conceded that the movement of the cars was without engine control of the air, and that, if it was a train movement, there was a violation of the Safety Appliance Act.

The distance of the haul from the woodyard to the Quinnesee yards was slightly under three miles. The cars were going 15 to 30 miles an hour. Their general method of movement is stated in the preceding paragraph. Between the two points a public highway was crossed. No railroads were crossed. There were no switches or sidetracks. It was a [314]*314straight haul. No stops were to he made. The cars were hauled as a unit. It is inferable that the cars were coupled and constituted a unit when the engine went for them. If the movement was a switching movement the Safety Appliance Act did not apply. We do not think it a switching movement. It was a train movement as distinguished from a switching movement. It was a train movement from yard to yard, and not a switching movement within a yard. The ease is on principle fairly within United States v. Erie R. Co. 237 U. S. 402, 35 Sup. Ct. 621, 59 L. ed. 1019; United States v. C. B. & Q. R. Co. 237 U. S. 410, 35 Sup. Ct. 634, 59 L. ed. 1023; Louisville & J. Bridge Co. v. United States, 249 U. S. 534, 39 Sup. Ct. 355, 63 L. ed. 757; United States v. Pere Marquette R. Co. 211 Fed. 220; La Mere v. Railway Tr. Co. of City of Minneapolis, 125 Minn. 159, 145 N. W. 1068, Ann. Cas. 1915C, 667. In a late case, where as here the movement was off the main line, without train orders, 'and without many of the usual incidents of an ordinary train movement, the court said:

“But there is nothing in the act which limits the application of the provision here in question to operations on main line tracks.

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181 N.W. 847, 148 Minn. 310, 1921 Minn. LEXIS 523, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kraemer-v-chicago-north-western-railway-co-minn-1921.