Summers v. Louisville & N. R.

4 F. Supp. 410, 1933 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1526
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Kentucky
DecidedJune 30, 1933
DocketNo. 3989
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 4 F. Supp. 410 (Summers v. Louisville & N. R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Summers v. Louisville & N. R., 4 F. Supp. 410, 1933 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1526 (E.D. Ky. 1933).

Opinion

ANDREW M. J. COCHRAN, District Judge.

This action is before me on plaintiff’s motion to remand to the state circuit court from which it was removed. There is no diversity of citizenship between the parties. It was removed on the ground that the action arises under the laws of the United States. The particular law under which it is alleged in the petition for removal that it arises is the Federal Safety Appliance Act (45 USCA § 1 et seq.). It is the position of the plaintiff that it does not so arise, but that it arises under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (45 USCA §§ 51-59). Of course if such is the case it was not removable and the motion to remand should be sustained. Kansas City Southern Ry. Co. v. Leslie, 238 U. S. 599, 35 S. Ct. 844, 59 L. Ed. 1478; Great Northern Ry. Co. v. Alexander, 246 U. S. 280, 38 S. Ct. 237, 62 L. Ed. 713.

The plaintiff in her petition expressly alleges that the action is brought “under and by reason of and this case arises under the act of Congress designated and known as the 'Federal Employers’ Liability Act’ as amended, title 45, §§ 51 to 59, inclusive, USCA.” This allegation is not conclusive. Whether such is the ease depends on the facts set forth in plaintiff’s petition. It is an action to recover damages for the death of plaintiff’s intestate. According to such allegations the defendant is engaged in interstate commerce and plaintiff’s intestate, at the time of the receipt of the injury which resulted in his death, was in its employ as a switchman in one of its yards and engaged in interstate commerce. So far the action is brought within the Federal Employers’ Liability Act. The ground upon which defendant claims that the action is not covered by that act is that it appears further from such allegations that the liability of defendant for the death of plaintiff’s intestate is for breach of its absolute duty to provide efficient hand brakes as required by the Safety Appliance Act. It is defendant’s position that no recovery can be had under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act for a breach of such duty. This is so because the recovery authorized by that act is for negligence and where there is a breach of an absolute duty there is no negligence. That act (section 1 [45 USCA § 51]) provides for recovery for an injury or death “resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of any of the officers, agents or employees of such carrier, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, works, boats, wharves, or other equipment.” The liability imposed on the carrier for a defect or insufficiency in appliances is where it is “due to its negligence.” The plaintiff acquiesces in this position and meets it with the claim that no recovery is sought for a breach of such absolute duty imposed by the Safety Appliance Act, but solely for negligence on the part of defendant’s employees. The manner and cause of the injury and death complained of is thus set forth in the petition: “On the first day of May 1931, the deceased, Carl G. Summers, was employed by and at work for the defendant, as a switchman in said yard, in that part of said yard designated as the hump, and the hand brake on one of the cars then and there so used by the defendant was defective and insufficient to control the movement of such car, and it then and there became and was the duty of the car inspector and inspectors of the defendant, before said car was placed on the hump, where, the decedent, Carl G. Summers, was so at work, to mark the same so as show that said car was marked for the shop, and further, to place on said car marks showing such brake was so defective and insufficient, and said car was moved from that part of such yard of the defendant onto the hump without being so marked, and through and by the negligence and carelessness of the defendant’s agent and employees, said ear inspector and inspectors, whose duty it was to so inspect and mark said ear, the defendant did place said car on said hump, and release and turn the same loose, and said ear was marked for the shop, and was not marked to show that the hand brake was so defective and insufficient, and said inspector or inspectors did and had so negligently and carelessly failed to so mark the same, showing such hand brake was so [412]*412defective and insufficient, and such defect and insufficiency was known to the defendant and such inspector and inspectors and could have been known to them by the exercise of ordinary care, and was not known to the said Carl G. Summers, and could not have been known to him by the exercise of ordinary care, and said car was so turned loose on said hump, and the decedent, Carl G. Summers, while so engaged and at work thereon, did undertake to control the movement of said car with such hand brake, after said inspector and inspectors had so failed to mark the same, and the same could not be controlled, and the said Carl G. Summers then and there in attempting to control the car, and in getting off of such car, did and was required to exert great and extraordinary strength, and force, and was so jarred, strained and injured thereby in his heart, arteries, internal organs, veins and museles, and was thereby killed, all of which injuries and death were the direct and proximate result of and caused wholly by the negligence and carelessness of the defendant’s agents and employees, the ear inspector and inspectors, as above set out, and but for which none of said injuries and death would have been sustained.” According to this the car which the decedent was operating when injured was marked for the shop, i. e. for repairs, and was being moved thereto for such purpose, the hand brake on the ear was defective and insufficient, the decedent attempted to control the car by means of it but could not do so because of this defect and insufficiency, and the inability to control it was the cause of the injury. This makes a dear ease of liability for breach of the duty prescribed by the Safety Appliance Act. But, according further thereto, recovery is not sought on this account. It is sought solely on the ground of the negligence of defendant’s car inspector in not marking the ear so as to show that the hand brake was defective and insufficient. It is alleged that the injury and death “were the direct and proximate result and were caused wholly by the negligence and carelessness of the defendant’s agents and employees, the ear inspector and inspectors, as above set out, and but for which, none of said injuries and death would have been sustained.” There can be no possible question that plaintiff bases her right to recover on such negligence on the part of defendant’s ear inspector. Under the allegations of the petition there can be no recovery unless plaintiff has such right of recovery.

There can be no recovery for the breach of the absolute duty to provide an efficient hand brake prescribed by the Safety Appliance Act. That plaintiff recognizes this appears from the grounds of her motion to remand;

“(1) The petition alleges as a sole ground of recovery the negligence of defendant’s car inspectors in failing to mark the ear mentioned in the petition so as to show the brake was defective before it was placed upon the hump and this action is brought under title 45, §§ 51 to 59, USCA.
“(2) The plaintiff does not rely upon and no recovery could be had because of the insufficiency or defect of the brake on the car mentioned in the petition, and no recovery could be had because of any alleged claim of a violation of the Safety Appliance Act, title 45, sections 11,13 and 14, USCA.

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Bluebook (online)
4 F. Supp. 410, 1933 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1526, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/summers-v-louisville-n-r-kyed-1933.