Toledo, St. Louis & Western Railroad v. Cowan

112 N.E. 23, 61 Ind. App. 375, 1916 Ind. App. LEXIS 59
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 29, 1916
DocketNo. 8,926
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 112 N.E. 23 (Toledo, St. Louis & Western Railroad v. Cowan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Toledo, St. Louis & Western Railroad v. Cowan, 112 N.E. 23, 61 Ind. App. 375, 1916 Ind. App. LEXIS 59 (Ind. Ct. App. 1916).

Opinion

Hottel, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment in appellee’s favor for $450. Tlie complaint is in one paragraph. A demurrer thereto for want of facts was overruled, and this ruling and the ruling of the court on appellant’s motion for new trial are relied on for reversal and presented for our determi[377]*377nation.. Briefly stated, the allegations of the complaint are in substance, as follows: Appellant is a corporation and controls and operates a railroad running through Vermillion County, Indiana, and in the operation thereof owns a coal dock located about one mile east of the town of Cayuga in said county. On November 5, 1909, appellee was in the employ of appellant, working at said coal dock in breaking coal and such other work as he was ordered and directed to do by the engineer who had the control of the engine and the operation of the same at the coal dock. On said date, appellee was breaking coal that was being unloaded at the dock by means of trap doors in the bottom of the coal cars. The engineer in charge of the work was in the employ of appellant and was superintending and managing the work for appellant and appellee was subject to the orders and directions of such engineer and was required'to obey his orders. Appellant carelessly and negligently permitted the chain which held up one of the trap doors to become and remain broken and defective, so that the door would not remain raised and fastened after coal was emptied from the car, and the engineer, whose duty it was to see that the car was in proper shape and the door closed, instructed' and ordered appellee to get under the door and hold it up while he, the engineer, mended and repaired the broken chain. In compliance with the order, plaintiff got under the door and raised it up and held it until the engineer told him that it was all right and safe and that he could safely go to work, and under said instructions and orders and with the assurance of the engineer that the chain was fixed and the place safe, which he believed to be true, he proceeded with his work of breaking coal, when the defendant by its engineer carelessly [378]*378and negligently by some means broke “said wire and let said trap door fall upon Mm.” Here follows a description of the nature and extent of appellee’s injuries, etc.

1, It is insisted by appellant that the complaint does not state a cause of action under the second subdivision of the Employer’s Liability Act of March 4, 1893 (Acts 1893 p. 294, §8017 Burns 1914), because the allegations thereof show that plaintiff, at the time of injury, was not engaged in train service or exposed to the hazards of train operation; that it does not state a cause of action under the common law, (1) because it shows that appellee and appellant’s foreman or engineer were fellow servants, and (2) because it fails to show that appellee did not assume the risk which resulted in his injury. Appellee, in effect, concedes appellant’s contention that the complaint, to be sufficient under the second subdivision of the Employer’s Liability Act, supra, must show that appellee’s injuries resulted from a hazard incident to the use or operation of a train, but insists that it is sufficient under either the first subdivision, or the latter part of the fourth subdivision, of said act, and sufficient under the common law. Appellee relies on the cases of Baltimore, etc. R. Co. v. Walker (1908), 41 Ind. App. 588, 84 N. E. 730; Cleveland, etc., R. Co. v. Beale (1908), 42 Ind. App. 588, 86 N. E. 431; and Indiana Union Traction Co. v. Long (1911), 176 Ind. 532, 96 N. E. 604, as supporting his contention that his complaint is sufficient under the first subdivision of said act, and on the cases-of Indianapolis Union R. Co. v. Houlihan (1901), 157 Ind. 494, 498, 60 N. E. 943; and on Thacker v. Chicago, etc., R. Co. (1902), 159 Ind. 82, 64 N. E. 605, 59 L. R. A. 792, that Ms complaint is good-[379]*379under the latter part of the fourth subdivision of such act,

The two Appellate Court eases were decided since the decision in the case of Bedford Quarries Co. v. Bough (1907), 168 Ind. 671, 80 N. E. 629, 14 L. R. A. (N. S.) 418, in which the Supreme Court first declared the act, supra, unconstitutional as to all corporations other than railroad corporations, but were decided before the more recent cases, hereinafter cited, which restrict the application of the statute as hereinafter indicated, and it seems that no question was raised in either of the Appellate Court cases as to the application of the statute and the court held the complaint sufficient thereunder. However, the result in those cases would have been the same whether the respective complaints therein being considered had been tested by the statute or the common law, because such subdivision of the statute does no more than reenact the common law on the subject involved. Indiana Union Traction Co. v. Long, supra. The case of Indianapolis Union R. Co. v. Houlihan, supra, which involved the sufficiency of a pleading under the second' clause of the fourth subdivision of the act was decided before the case of Bedford Quarries Co. v. Bough, supra, and the later cases placed on such act the restricted construction. However, appellee could gain nothing in this ease by having his complaint tested under such second clause of the fourth subdivision of the act because, as was said in Thacker v. Chicago, etc., R. Co., supra, cited by appellee, said clause of the act is not as broad as the common law and hence a complaint good under it would necessarily be good under the common law. It now seems to be settled that the benefits of the act, supra, are not to be extended to tall railroad employes, or to any class of employes [380]*380.other than “those whose clu'ties expose them to the peculiar hazards incident to the use and operation of railroads”. In other words, the act has been construed as designed exclusively for the benefit of those who are, in the course of their employment, exposed to the particular hazards incident to the use and operation of railroad engines and trains, and whose injuries are caused thereby. Richey v. Cleveland, etc., R. Co. (1911), 176 Ind. 542, 96 N. E. 694, 47 L. R. A. (N. S.) 121; Chicago, etc., R. Co. v. Lain (1914), 181 Ind. 386, 394, 103 N. E. 847; Indianapolis Traction, etc., Co. v. Kinney (1909), 171 Ind, 612, 85 N. E. 954, 23 L. R. A. (N. S.) 711; Cleveland, etc., R. Co. v. Foland (1910), 174 Ind. 411, 91 N. E. 594, 92 N. E. 185. The Supreme Court held that this restricted construction was necessitated to prevent the act “from offending against the prohibition of our Constitution against special and class legislation.” Richey v. Cleveland, etc., R. Co., supra. It follows that such construction applies to the act in its entirety, rather than to any particular subdivision thereof, as appellee’s contention would imply.

[381]*3812. 3. 4. 5. [380]*380Under the facts of this ease, as shown by the complaint, appellee was employed to break coal at one of appellant’s coal docks, and to do such other work as. appellant’s engineer might direct. While breaking coal, appellee was injured by a falling door on a dump coal ear that was being unloaded at such coal dock. The engineer by some means broke the wire and let the door fall.

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Bluebook (online)
112 N.E. 23, 61 Ind. App. 375, 1916 Ind. App. LEXIS 59, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/toledo-st-louis-western-railroad-v-cowan-indctapp-1916.