M'Coullough v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co.

160 Iowa 524
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJune 7, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 160 Iowa 524 (M'Coullough v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
M'Coullough v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co., 160 Iowa 524 (iowa 1913).

Opinion

Evans, J.

The decedent was an unmarried adult twenty-five years of age. He left surviving him a father and mother fifty-three and fifty-four years of age, respectively. He was [527]*527an employee of the' defendant company, and as such was engaged at the time of the accident resulting in his death in interstate commerce. He was the forward brakeman on his train, and was at his proper place upon the engine while the train was running between stations, when a side bar of the drive wheel was suddenly broken. The revolving piece tore the cab of the engine where the decedent was sitting, and inflicted injury upon him from which he shortly died. There was a verdict for the plaintiff for $5,000. It is urged by the appellant that there was no basis either in the pleading or in the evidence for the allowance of substantial damages under said Liability Act. The question presented is a very important one in its effect upon future cases under this statute, and we therefore give it our first attention.

The Liability Act referred to creates a right of action against the employer for the death of any employee, resulting from the employer’s negligence, in favor of the administrator but for the benefit of certain classes of relatives as follows: “(1) For the benefit of the surviving widow or husband or children of such employee; (2) and if none then of such employee’s parents; (3) and if none then of the net kin dependent upon such employee.”' The beneficiaries of this suit are those of the second class above stated. It is urged by the appellant that the petition made no averment that the beneficiaries named suffered any pecuniary loss by reason of their son’s death. And it is urged, further, that there was no evidence of any such pecuniary loss or of any facts from which such pecuniary loss could, be found. Inasmuch as this act impliedly provides that suit may be brought thereunder in state courts as well as federal courts, it is important that there be uniformity of judicial opinion in construing its provisions. Manifestly, the final word will rest with the Supreme Court of the United States as to matters of substantive right thereunder. As to pleading and procedure, necessarily the courts of each state must pursue their own statutory methods.

[528]*5281. Employees' liability : federal act: construction: damages. [527]*527The parties before us differ in their analysis of the act [528]*528in question. The plaintiff contends that in its general application it is not materially different from the Iowa statute on the same subject. This contention is not , , , ... tenable. This act is modeled m its principal features upon an English statute known as Lord Campbell’s Act, enacted in 1846, and which, with some amendment, has been in force in England ever since. This act does not provide for a survival of the cause of action arising to the decedent in his lifetime because of the injury which resulted in his death. It creates a new cause of action, not in favor of the estate of the deceased, but in favor of certain specified classes of beneficiaries. The cause of action is based, not upon the injury to the deceased, but upon the fact of his death by wrongful act of the defendant. The extent of damage in each case is to be measured by the pecuniary loss sustained by the particular beneficiaries rather than by the loss to the éstate of the decedent as such. Similar statutes have been enacted in thirty-five or forty states of the Union, and have been in force in some of them for many years. Iowa, however, is not one of such states. Our statute is a survival statute. That is to say, the cause of action which arose to the deceased in his lifetime because of the injury is made to survive after his death to his administrator. The extent of damage is measured by the loss to his estate as such, although exemption of the proceeds for the benefit of the family is provided. The measure of damage is not controlled or varied by the identity or circümstance of the particular person or persons to whom the benefit inures. It will be noted that the federal act under consideration provides for three classes of beneficiaries in the alternative; preference being given in the order named. The existence of the first class excludes the others: the existence of the second class excludes the third. If there be no representative of any of the three classes, then there is no cause of action.

Manifestly, also, the measure of damage in favor of the first class will be essentially different from that in favor of [529]*529the second and third classes, and that in favor of the second class may be different from that in favor of the third.

2. Same: damages: presumption: pleadings: evidence. In those states, where similar statutes have been in force, it has been quite uniformly held that substantial damages will be presumed in favor of the widow and children without special averment or proof other than a showing of the pecuniary value of the life of the decedent to his family; and doubtless to his own estate, on the theory that a prospective inheritance of such estate by the family would ordinarily be a reasonable expectation. It has also been quite usually held that as to other classes of beneficiaries it is necessary to aver and prove their pecuniary loss by appropriate allegation and evidence. If the action be brought on behalf of the parents, it is not enough to show their mere survival. Pecuniary loss must be shown. From the nature of the case the evidence must often be circumstantial only and perhaps indefinite, but the aim of the statute to that end is definite and persistent.

3. Same: elements of compensation. Where recovery is claimed for the benefit of parents for the death of a child, it is material to show whether the decedent was a minor or adult. If a minor, the question whether his services during the ■ remaining years of his minority would have been pecuniarily valua]qe pis parents may be inquired into as affecting the measure of damage. If the decedent was adult, then this question is eliminated. There remains, however, the somewhat narrow ground of “prospective gifts” either of money, property, or services which the parents could reasonably have expected to receive in the course of their lives from the decedent. Under this act, pecuniary loss only can be considered. Compensation cannot be had for suffering or bereavement. It has been held that a presumption of' nominal damages will obtain in favor of the p'arents. Atchison R. R. Co., v. Weber, 33 Kan. 543 (6 Pac. 877, 52 Am. Rep. 543), and eases cited therein. But there is no presumption in favor [530]*530of substantial pecuniary loss to parents or dependent relatives, except such inference or presumption as may naturally arise out of evidence tending to show such loss.

Apparent exceptions to this rule are found in New York and Illinois. But the decisions in those states are based upon the particular form of their statutes. Each statute provides that the jury may give “such damages as they shall deem a fair and just compensation:” Under each statute, also, the beneficiaries are confined to surviving husband or wife and next of kin, and the damages recovered are distributed in accordance with the statutes of descent.

4. Same.

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Bluebook (online)
160 Iowa 524, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcoullough-v-chicago-rock-island-pacific-railway-co-iowa-1913.