Patsaw v. Kansas City Southern Ry. Co.

56 F. Supp. 897, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2066
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Louisiana
DecidedSeptember 23, 1944
DocketCiv. A. No. 909
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 56 F. Supp. 897 (Patsaw v. Kansas City Southern Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Patsaw v. Kansas City Southern Ry. Co., 56 F. Supp. 897, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2066 (W.D. La. 1944).

Opinion

PORTERIE, District Judge.

We quote the “Agreed Statement of Facts” in this case with the dual purpose of making it a part of the finding of facts and a narrative of the case.

“The defendant is a railroad company, engaged in interstate commerce, its railroad running from Missouri, through the states of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

“That the plaintiff, Stacy Patsaw, for more than a month prior to the accident sued on, was a member of a section crew, working for the defendant, and engaged every day in interstate commerce, repairing, replacing and keeping in gopd order defendant’s interstate railroad line.

“That the defendant railroad company had entered into a contract with Eddie Walls, the owner of a truck in De Ridder, Louisiana, to transport members of defendant’s section crew from De Ridder, Louisiana, to the scene- of the section crew’s work on defendant’s interstate railroad in the Parish of Calcasieu, State of Louisiana.

“That the section crew was working on the Kansas City Southern Railway between the city of De Quincy and the town of Singer, Louisiana.

“That on the day of the accident complained of, the section foreman, Royer, left De Quincy, Louisiana, for the scene of the work, on a hand gar or motor car,- with tools which the section crew used in their work.

“That on the day of the accident, the foreman of the section crew, while at the scene of his work on defendant’s railroad, some time after the start of the day’s work, saw Stacy Patsaw and other members of the crew drive up along' the highway, which paralleled the railroad.

“That the section foreman had brought out with him tools sufficient in number to supply the men he brought out from De Quincy, and did not have with him a sufficient number of shovels, spades, picks, drivers, jacks, etc., with which Stacy Pat-saw and the other members of the crew could work — that is, the members of the crew that came out in the truck from De Ridder with Patsaw.

“That the section foreman told Patsaw to drive in to De Quincy to the tool house and get the tools mentioned in sufficient numbers for himself and the rest of the crew, and that if he did this, all of the men would be allowed full time for that day.

“That one other member of the section crew was sent in to De Quincy with Pat-saw to get the tools.

“That De Quincy was about six or seven miles from the place where the section crew was working on the railroad.

“That the purpose of Patsaw’s trip in to De Quincy was to get the necessary tools with which he and the others were to work, and intended to work on defendant’s interstate railroad.

“That Patsaw had been on the pay roll of the defendant’s section crew for more than a month prior to the accident.

“That, to clarify the situation, although it might have already been stated, Mr. Walls, the privately employed truck owner, in taking Patsaw and a number of others that day for work, never did reach De Quincy, the usual place to which the laborers were brought, but found the railroad company’s section crew already at work — - the railroad track and the highway being parallel between De Ridder and De Quincy — at a point six or seven miles before-reaching De Quincy.

“It is agreed that the approximate total distance between De Ridder and De Quincy is 33 miles.

“That there was a private arrangement between Eddie Walls, owner of the truck, and Stacy Patsaw, whereby Patsaw, for a given consideration, drove the truck with members of the section crew in it, each day from De Ridder to De Quincy, the owner [899]*899of the truck not being an employee of the railroad company.

“That at the time of the accident complained of, there was no officer or managing agent or official of the defendant company present with Patsaw in the truck.

“That the man who went with Patsaw from the scene of the work on the railroad by the section crew to De Quincy to get tools was a member of the section crew who had arrived that morning with Patsaw, and who had not on that particular day started work.

“That Patsaw’s regular duties, under his employment with Eddie Walls, the owner of the truck, were to take the hands who appeared to be delivered at De Ridder, and deliver them to the tool house in De Quincy, for which service the railroad company paid Eddie Walls.”

This is a suit brought by Stacy Patsaw against the Kansas City Southern Railway Company for compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Statutes of Louisiana.

Because the petition shows that the plaintiff’s cause of action, if he has one, is exclusively under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51, and because of diversity of citizenship of the parties, the case was removed to this court.

We are taking the case on defendant’s motion to dismiss because the plaintiff was injured while engaged in interstate commerce, for which there can be no recovery under a state compensation statute.

“That while so employed on the 4th day of March, 1943 at about 8:30 o’clock, petitioner was driving a truck belonging to Eddie Walls on the highway between the points on the Kansas City Southern Railroad, south of the north line of the Parish of Calcasieu, La., when he was going from the job to the tool house at De Quincy where the Kansas City Southern Railroad tools were kept.” Article 4, Plaintiff’s Petition.

“That petitioner was severely injured about the face and mouth and received several cuts in the face, leaving permanent scars and disfigurement. That there is also glass in his face which causes him to suffer great pain and discomfort at all times. He received a blow on his chin knocking out his two middle front teeth in his lower jaw and fracturing and slivering his lower jawbone. Petitioner’s back was injured in the lower part or small of his back in the lumbar region and in the sacrum joint and the vertebrae of his back.” Article 6, Plaintiff’s Petition.

Conclusions of Law

1. The purpose of the 1939 Amendment to the Employers’ Liability Act was to broaden and make it clear that if an employee is engaged in services (although by themselves intrastate in character), which in any way “further or affect” interstate commerce, he comes within the scope of the Act.

The Federal Employers’ Liability Act, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51, was amended in part by Act of August 11, 1939, c. 685, § 1, 53 Stat. 1404, to read as follows: “Any employee of a carrier, any part of whose duties as such employee shall be the furtherance of interstate or foreign commerce; or shall, in any way directly or closely and substantially, affect such commerce as above set forth shall, for the purposes of this chapter, be considered as being employed by such carrier in such commerce and shall be considered as entitled to the benefits of this chapter.”

The court in Ermin v. Pennsylvania R. Co., D.C., 36 F.Supp. 936, 940, said: “There are multitudinous decisions raising hairsplitting interpretations as to whether or not the employees at the time of accident were actually engaged in interstate commerce. It was to avoid this difficulty that Congress enacted the Amendment. It was, undoubtedly, the intent of Congress to include within the scope of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act all employees, even those performing intrastate services whose employment meets the requirements of the Act.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
56 F. Supp. 897, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2066, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/patsaw-v-kansas-city-southern-ry-co-lawd-1944.