Roman v. Lehigh Valley Coal Co.

241 F. 595, 1917 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1326
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. New York
DecidedApril 2, 1917
StatusPublished

This text of 241 F. 595 (Roman v. Lehigh Valley Coal Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roman v. Lehigh Valley Coal Co., 241 F. 595, 1917 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1326 (E.D.N.Y. 1917).

Opinion

CHATFIELD,'District Judge.

This action was instituted in the state court by Joseph Roman, a brother of the widow above named, as administrator of the estate of his deceased brother-in-law, who was • an alien residing in the state of Pennsylvania, and who was killed in Pennsylvania upon the 13th day of February, 1911. The record shows that he left surviving a widow and three children, 19, 17, and 6 years of age. These children are citizens of the United States, having been born in Pennsylvania, where they have lived with their mother up to the present time. Fetters of administration were taken out in Kings county by the brother-in-law, and, so far as we are concerned with their effect, the property which he sought to administer was the cause of action arising from the brother-in-law’s death.

Under the laws of New York a cause' of action for death vests in an administrator or personal representative. In Pennsylvania, under thé law of 1851 (Act April 15, 1851 [P. L. 674]), a cause of action for death was given to the widow of a person killed in the state. In 1855, a statute (section 1, P. L. 309; Act April 26, 1855) was passed providing that the husband, widow, children, or parents of the deceased should be entitled to recover damages upon a caüse of action such as that just referred to, and that the sum recovered is to be shared with the children in the proportion in, which they would take a personal estate in the case of intestacy. In the case of Haughey v. Pittsburg Ry. Co., 210 Pa. 367, 59 Atl. 1110, it was held that the act of 1855 did not amend the law of 1851, and that a cause of action vested only in the widow, who would be considered as trustee for the proper distribution of such sum as might be recovered.

It is unnecessary to discuss these propositions, as the law of Pennsylvania was settled by the Haughey decision, and the' rights of children citizens given by tire law of 1855 would be controlled by tire rights of their alien parent. Subsequently section 8 of article 17 of the Anthracite Mining Law, by the amendment of 1891 (P. L. 1891, p. 207), gave a right of action to the widow and lineal heirs of the deceased, in the case of death arising from acts covered by the mining law. Following the reasoning of the Haughey Case; the cause of action then vested only in the widow, but for the persons who1 were declared by the mining law to be entitled to the recovery.

.The defendant appeared generally and removed the action instituted by Joseph Roman, as administrator, into the. United States court, upon [597]*597papers alleging that the plaintiff was a resident of New York and the defendant a resident of the state of Pennsylvania. The defendant then interposed an answer, in which it generally denied liability, charged contributory negligence on the part of the deceased, as well as the negligence of fellow servants of the deceased. This answer also denied the allegations of employment, and would seem to deny the allegation of death. It admits the residence of the defendant in the state of Pennyslvania and its control over the mine in which the accident occurred.

Later an amended complaint was served, which did not change any other matters with which we have to do, but set up certain provisions of the laws of Pennsylvania, and then proceeded to allege that the negligence of the defendant damaged the estate of the deceased and his heirs and next of kin in the sum of $25,000. It was also alleged that the plaintiff’s intestate left him surviving a widow and heirs and next of kin and other persons entitled to a distributive share of his estate under the laws of descent and distribution of Pennsylvania and New York.

The defendant’s answer to the amended complaint repeated the denials stated in the original answer, except that it was admitted that the deceased had been employed by the defendant as a miner in the designated mine and that he had received the injuries causing his death therein. The allegations relating to fellow servant were omitted and the case came to trial. The defendant moved for dismissal of the cause of action, as soon as the jury had been sworn, and before the plaintiff opened his case. This motion was based Upon the allegation that the plaintiff described himself in the complaint as administrator and did not say that he was a citizen of New York. This objection was overruled, upon the ground that the administrator appointed in this county was necessarily in his legal capacity a citizen of New York, and the defendant then moved to dismiss on the ground that an administrator in New York could not maintain an action based upon the death of a resident of Pennsylvania, where the death occurred in Pennsylvania, and where the defendant was a citizen of that state.

[1,2] It is apparent that the action granted by section 1902 of tlie Code of Civil Procedure of .New York could not include a cause of action vested in individuals residing in Pennsylvania. The theory of the New York statute is that the estate — that is, the claim- — is present within the jurisdiction of the laws of New York. The theory of the Pennsylvania statute is that a cause of action vests directly in the persons entitled. It is not a derivative action, arising from injury to the estate by the loss of the cause of action which would have been vested in the decedent, if he had survived the accident. Nor is it a mere statutory statement or enactment of the contract obligation to answer for damage to the estate through the injury or death of the individual. This distinction is now- well settled throughout the United States, following the decisions of the English courts with reference to Lord Campbell’s Act.

[3] As was held in Chsaitas v. Lehigh Valley Coal Co., 174 App. Div. 600, 161 N. Y. S. 665 (App. Div. 2d Dept., 1916), an action by an [598]*598administrator is not the same as an action by the person entitled in his own name. Alessandrelli v. Arbogast (D. C.) 209 Fed. 126; Alexander v. Wilkes-Barre Ry. Co. (D. C.) 235 Fed. 461. In the Chsaitas Case the court, however, held in effect that the maintenance of an action by an administrator could not be taken advantage of after his death by the individuals actually entitled, even though the action- by the administrator had been instituted in accordance with New York law. The court held that the action by the individuals, even though instituted according to New York law, depended upon a cause of action granted by the laws of Pennsylvania, and that the cause of action had been lost by the abatement of the action which had for a time been pending.

But the case of Spokane & Inland R. R. v. Whitley, 237 U. S. 487, 35 Sup. Ct. 655, 59 L. Ed. 1060, L. R. A. 1915F, 736, holds that suit by an administratrix in Tennessee, 'who claimed a cause of action for death to be part of the decedent’s estate, and who therefore brought suit in the state of Washington as such administratrix, and recovered judgment against the railroad company (which appeared and contested the merits of the action, without raising the question of jurisdiction), did not furnish a valid objection to the maintenance of an action by a mother, who (under the laws of Idaho, where the death occurred) was entitled to one-half the cause of action or the damages recovered. The court held that the persons entitled to sue were those actually made beneficiaries. To the same effect is Keystone Coal & Coke Co. v. Fekete, 232 Fed. 72, 146 C. C. A. 264.

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Alessandrelli v. Arbogast
209 F. 126 (M.D. Pennsylvania, 1913)
Lehigh Valley Coal Co. v. Yensavage
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Kluchnik v. Lehigh Valley Coal Co.
228 F. 880 (Second Circuit, 1915)
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Bluebook (online)
241 F. 595, 1917 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1326, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roman-v-lehigh-valley-coal-co-nyed-1917.