Wabash Railway Co. v. Fox

11 Ohio Cir. Dec. 148
CourtOhio Circuit Courts
DecidedJuly 7, 1900
StatusPublished

This text of 11 Ohio Cir. Dec. 148 (Wabash Railway Co. v. Fox) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Circuit Courts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wabash Railway Co. v. Fox, 11 Ohio Cir. Dec. 148 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1900).

Opinion

Parker, J.

This action was brought in the court of common pleas of Luca county, Ohio, on account of the death of Jesse M. Fox, which, it i alleged by the plaintiff below, May J. Fox, as administratrix, was caused by the wrongful act of the Wabash Railway Company, defendant below and which wrongful act and death occurred in the state of Indiana. The trial resulted in a verdict for the plaintiff below for $8,000: which, upon a motion for a new trial, was reduced by the trial j udge to $6,500 and judgment was rendered for that amount.

[149]*149It is contended on behalf of the plaintiff in error that the court below upon the trial, erred in various particulars; and, in the first place in holding that this action may be maintained in the state of Ohio. It is contended by the plaintiff in error that it may not be maintained here; and the reasons given by counsel cannot be better stated than in their brief, and therefore I read therefrom. .

‘ ‘ The court erred in holding that the law of Indiana can be enforced in Ohio. Section 6134a Ohio Rev. Stat., provides as follows: ‘ Whenever death has been or may be caused by a wrongful act, neglect, or default in another state, territory or foreign country, for which a right to maintain an action and recover damages in respect thereof is given by a statute of such other state, territory, or foreign country, such right of action may be enforced in this state in all cases where such other state, territory or foreign country allows the enforcement in its courts of the statutes of this state of a like character; but in no case shall the damages exceed the amount authorized to be recovered for a wrongful neglect or default in this state causing death.’ ”

Then follows a provision as to the limitation of the right to begin the action to two years following the death.

“ This section was enacted in 1894. 90 O. L. 408. Prior to the enactment of this statute, it was uniformly held by our Supreme Court that the provisions of Section 6134 Rev. Stat., giving the action for wrongfully causing death, do not extend to'cases where the wrongful act causing death was committed outside of this state, and that the action would not lie in this state in favor of an administrator appointed here on a cause of action arising under a similar statute of another state.”

In support of this are cited the cases of Woodward v. Railway Co., 10 Ohio St., 121; Hover v. Penn. Co., 25 Ohio St. 667 and Brooks, Admr. v. Penn. Co. 53 Ohio St. 655.

“ The question in this case is, therefore, whether Indiana is a state which allows the enforcement in its courts of the statute of this state of like character, i. e. the statute giving an action for wrongfully causing death. This statute is sec. 6134 Rev. Stat., and provides that the action for wrongfully causing death shall exist where the party would have been entitled to maintain an action and recover damages for the injury in case death had not ensued, and it is therefore obvious that the test for determining whether the action for wrongfully causing death is, would there have been a liability had death not ensued? This necessarily makes the rule of law determining the liability part and parcel of the act for wrongfully causing death. Bearing this in mind, let us look at the Indiana act. The Indiana act for wrongfully causing death is correctly pleaded in the petition in this case, and is substantially similar to the Ohio statute. But the rules of law determining whether a liability would have existed had death not ensued are contained in the Employers’ Liability Act of Indiana, upon which plaintiff relies and which is necessarily a part of the “ death statute ” in that state. For there, as here, the action for wrongfully causing death exists only in cases where a liability would have existed had death not ensued.”
“ Now the fourth section of the Indiana Employers, Liability Act contains this provision : In case any railroad corporation which owns or operates a line extending into or through the state of Indiana and into or through another or other states, and a person in the employ of such corporation, a citizen of this state, shall be injured as provided in [150]*150this act, in any other state where such railroad is owned or operated, and a suit for such injury shall brought in any of the courts of this state, it shall not be competent for such corporation to plead or prove the decisions or statutes of the state where such person shall have been injured as a defense to the action brought in this, state.
“ If this section means anything it certainly means that in all cases where a citizen of Indiana, injured in another state, brings suit in Indiana against the offending railroad company, the rules for determining whether a liability exists or not, are the rules prescribed by the statute itself, and that the rules of law of the state where the accident occurred are to be entirely ignored by the courts of Indiana. In other words, it applies Indiana law instead of Ohio law, in determining whether a liability exists or not. It is true that prior to the enactment of this statute the Supreme Court of Indiana held that it would enforce the statute of Ohio for wrongfully causing death, but it has not held since this Employers’ Liability Act was passed that it would apply the laws whether statutory or judicial, of another state in determining whether a liability existed or not. To enforce the Ohio statute for wrongfully causing death and at the same time apply the Indiana law for the purpose of determining whether a liability would have existed if death had not ensued, is certainly not enforcing Ohio law at all.
“ The vital thing about the statute giving an action for wrongfully causing death is the question of how it shall be determined whether a liability would have existed if death had not ensued. Unless Indiana is willing to enforce the rules of law for determining this question, it is not enforcing the Ohio ‘ death statute ’ at all.”

We think there is force in this statement and argument. In the case of Ott v. Railway Co., 10 Circ. Dec., 85, we held that where an action is permitted in this state for a death wrongfully caused and occuring in another state, we must look to the laws of the state where the wrongful act resulting in death occurred to determine all questions pertaining to the cause of action. Ott v. Railway Co., supra, has been affirmed by the Supreme Court, for the reasons stated in the opinion of the circuit court, so that, if it had not been settled before, it is now settled that the rule as stated in that decision is the rule in Ohio.

Now it is insisted that our statute requires that a like rule shall be enforced in the courts of Indiana when suit is brought there on account of a death occurring in Ohio; that the statute of Ohio on the subject of right of recovery for death wrongfully brought about is not enforced unless it is enforced in toto, in so far as the question of the right of recovery is affected thereby; that the rights of both parties under the statute must be enforced — the right of the defendant as well as the right of the plaintiff — in other words, the right of the plaintiff as given, defined and limited by the statute, and not some other or greater right that plaintiff may have under the law of some other state, otherwise the statute is not enforced.

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Bluebook (online)
11 Ohio Cir. Dec. 148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wabash-railway-co-v-fox-ohiocirct-1900.