Schmidt v. Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co.

605 F.3d 686, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 10079, 2010 WL 1960102
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMay 18, 2010
Docket08-35845
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 605 F.3d 686 (Schmidt v. Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schmidt v. Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co., 605 F.3d 686, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 10079, 2010 WL 1960102 (9th Cir. 2010).

Opinions

Opinion by Judge BURNS: Concurrence by Judge CALLAHAN.

BURNS, District Judge:

John Schmidt appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendant Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company (BNSF) on his negligent injury claim under the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA), 45 U.S.C. §§51 et seq. The district court found Schmidt did not present adequate evidence to show he was employed by BNSF. We [688]*688disagree, and conclude Schmidt’s evidence raises a triable issue of fact as to whether BNSF was his employer.

Background

BNSF is a major railway company and is engaged in interstate commerce. Schmidt was originally hired in 1975 by Western Fruit Express (WFE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BNSF. WFE does not transport passengers or goods but provides, maintains, and repairs refrigerated cars and trailers for use by BNSF and other railroad lines. WFE and BNSF maintain joint facilities at Hillyard, in Spokane, Washington.

Schmidt was employed by either BNSF or WFE or both intermittently from 1975 through 1999, when he was furloughed. He was recalled to work in 2003, but BNSF’s medical officer determined he was not fit to return to duty because a medical exam uncovered he had suffered a severe neck injury. Schmidt maintains his neck injury resulted from welding assignments he performed from 1992 through 1999 in the car shop in Spokane, and blames the injury on his supervisors’ negligence. According to Schmidt, he worked almost continuously on projects that required hours of welding underneath railroad cars while wearing a welding hood and hard hat.

Schmidt offered the following evidence1 in support of his contention that BNSF, and not WFE, was his employer during the relevant time period:

• Schmidt applied in 1975 at a Burlington Northern office to work for Burlington Northern.
• The official who first hired him in 1975 told him he was a Burlington Northern employee.
• Some of Schmidt’s coworkers in the welding shop thought they worked for BNSF.
• Signage on the premises and railroad cars named BNSF, or both BNSF and WFE.
• There were two railroad car shops on the premises where Schmidt worked, one marked with a sign bearing BNSF’s name only and the other bearing BNSF’s and WFE’s names; he worked in the latter.
• Workers’ and supervisors’ hard hats had BNSF logos.
• Correspondence from BNSF addressed Schmidt as “employee” or by a work title indicating he worked for BNSF.
• BNSF provided Schmidt and other workers with gloves and gave them vouchers for boots.
• Schmidt was given a summary plan description for the BNSF Retirement Plan.
• BNSF handled Schmidt’s payroll, and its name was on his pay stubs. Some of his pay statements mentioned that BNSF was paying him on behalf of WFE.
• BNSF required and provided or sponsored training in job skills, safety, and avoiding discrimination and harassment.
• Workers from the BNSF main shop attended weekly and monthly safety meetings attended by workers in Schmidt’s shop.
• Schmidt’s injuries can be traced at least in part to welding work he did on railroad cars for BNSF.
• When Schmidt was welding BNSF’s cars, he was required by BNSF policy to wear a hard hat and welding hood.
[689]*689• BNSF internal publications on the subject of safety records mentioned WFE workers as part of the BNSF workforce.
• The 2003 letter recalling Schmidt to work came from BNSF’s senior manager for “Mechanical/TCU General Timekeeping and Analysis.”
• When Schmidt was recalled, he was told to report to BNSF’s mechanical department.
• BNSF acknowledged Schmidt’s request to exercise his “seniority in the Mechanical Department of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.”
• Schmidt was screened to return to work by BNSF’s medical officer and BNSF paid for the medical exam.

FELA authorizes employees of railroads engaged in interstate commerce to sue their employers for negligent injury in the course of employment. 45 U.S.C. § 51. It is undisputed BNSF is a railroad within this provision, but WFE is not. If WFE was Schmidt’s sole employer, his remedies would be limited to worker’s compensation. If BNSF was his employer, FELA provides for the recovery of additional damages.

Discussion

Summary judgment should be granted “if the pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). “[A]ll reasonable inferences are to be drawn in favor of the non-moving party.” Surfvivor Media, Inc. v. Survivor Prods., 406 F.3d 625, 630 (9th Cir.2005). The evidence must be enough for a “reasonable trier of fact” to find for the plaintiff. Addisu v. Fred Meyer, Inc., 198 F.3d 1130, 1134 (9th Cir.2000). We review the granting of summary judgment de novo. Enlow v. Salem-Keizer Yellow Cab Co., 389 F.3d 802, 811 (9th Cir.2004).

Under FELA, the test of whether a company is the employer of a particular worker turns on the degree of control the company exerts over the physical conduct of the worker in the performance of services. Kelley v. Southern Pac. Co., 419 U.S. 318, 324, 95 S.Ct. 472, 42 L.Ed.2d 498 (1974). Kelley recognizes three different theories of control, derived from common law, by which a plaintiff can establish employment for FELA purposes. “First, the employee could be serving as the borrowed servant of the railroad at the time of his injury.... Second, he could be deemed to be acting for two masters simultaneously.... Finally, he could be a subservant of a company that was in turn a servant of the railroad.” Id. (citations omitted). In proceedings before the district court, Schmidt pursued his claims primarily under the third Kelley theory, the “subservant” theory.2

Although he now argues he could have brought his claims under Kelley’s second theory, the “joint employer” theory, he concedes he did not argue this below, and we therefore treat the argument as waived. Brazil v. United States Dep’t of Navy, 66 F.3d 193, 198-99 (9th Cir. 1995).

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Bluebook (online)
605 F.3d 686, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 10079, 2010 WL 1960102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schmidt-v-burlington-northern-santa-fe-railway-co-ca9-2010.