Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/220/580/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 04:09:50+00:00

Document:
Justia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 220 › Delk v. St. Louis & S.F. R. Co.
A car containing an interstate shipment, stopped for repairs before it reaches its destination and the cargo whereof is not ready for delivery to the consignees, is still engaged in interstate commerce and subject to the provisions of the Safety Appliance Acts.
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway v. United States, ante, p. 220 U. S. 559, followed to effect that, under the Safety Appliance Acts of March 2, 1893, c.196, 27 Stat. 531; April 1, 1896, c. 87, 29 Stat. 85; March 2, 1903, c. 976, 32 Stat. 943, the carrier is not bound only to the extent of its best endeavors, but is subject to an absolute duty to provide and keep proper couplers at all times and under all circumstances.
Prior to the amendment by the Act of April 22, 1908, c. 149, 35 Stat. 65, the carrier had a defense where contributory negligence on the part of the party injured was the proximate cause of the injury. Schlemmer v. Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway Co., post, p. 220 U. S. 590.
Where the court instructs the jury to the effect that they must find for plaintiff in case they believe he acted as a reasonably prudent man with his experience would have acted, but that they must find for defendant if they believe the plaintiff acted in a manner a reasonably prudent man would not have acted, the question of contributory negligence is fairly submitted.
Where the Circuit Court rightly construed the law involved and there was no error in the admission of evidence, and the circuit court of appeals reverses the judgment on a mistaken view of the law, there is no reason to disturb the verdict of the trial court, and the judgment of the circuit court of appeals will be reversed and that of the trial court affirmed.
The facts, which involve the construction of the Safety Appliance Acts and the duties and rights of carriers and their employees thereunder, are stated in the opinion.
The St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company, a Missouri corporation engaged in commerce as a carrier of freight and passengers through Tennessee and other states, was sued in one of the courts of Tennessee by the petitioner, Delk, for damages alleged to have been sustained by him while engaged in the discharge of his duties as an employee of the company. On the petition of the railroad company, the case was removed to the circuit court of the United States on the ground of diversity of citizenship.
The declaration contained several counts, but the basis of the plaintiff's claim is the alleged failure of the railroad company to provide proper automatic couplers, as required by the Act of Congress of March 2d 1893, known as the original Safety Appliance Act. 27 Stat. 531, c. 196. The company filed a plea putting in issue the material allegations of the declaration. It also proceeded on the ground that the injuries complained of were caused by the plaintiff's own fault in not observing proper care in doing the work in which he was engaged when injured.
indicated its purpose to grant that motion unless the plaintiff by remittitur reduced the verdict and judgment to $5,000. The plaintiff complied with that condition, and judgment was entered against the company for the sum last mentioned. In the circuit court of appeals, the judgment was reversed and the case remanded for a new trial. 158 F. 931, 939, 940. Thereafter this Court allowed a writ of certiorari.
27 Stat. 531, c. 196.
The provisions of the act, so far as it is material to set them out, appear in the opinion of Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway Co. v. United States, just decided, ante, p. 220 U. S. 559. The circuit court of appeals well said in the present case that, while the general purpose of the statute was to promote the safety of employees and travelers, its immediate purpose was to provide a particular mode to effect that result -- namely, the equipping of each car used in moving interstate traffic with couplers coupling automatically by impact and which can be uncoupled without the necessity of men going between the ends of the cars.
yard of the defendant company, and was in a "string" of nine cars on what is known as "the dead track" in that yard. This track was called a team track, because it was so arranged that teams might be loaded and unloaded from alongside it.
pin or lock block. The drawbar also had a lateral motion of four inches. Defendant in error undertook to hold the drawbar away with his foot from the side upon which he stood so that the two couplers could couple by impact. In so doing, his foot was badly injured. Plaintiff in error had what is known as a car inspector or light repair man in the new yard. It was his duty to make repairs of the kind necessary on this car whenever found by him. When the car was returned by the Belt Railway on account of the defect in the coupler, plaintiff in error's inspector placed a red card about three inches by six inches upon the car, and with a blue pencil wrote on said card, 'Out of Order.' This card is what is commonly known as a 'bad order' card. The car had been on this team track from 7:30 A.M., on the third until 10 or 11 o'clock on the fourth, when the accident to defendant in error occurred. There was evidence tending to show that the inspection was made in the latter part of the third and that the inspector thereupon ordered an employee to go to the repair shops which were some two and a half miles distant, and get the material for repairing the coupler, but that the employee did not return until after the accident. The trial court held that the Safety Appliance Act applied to the car with the defective coupler, and that, by virtue of § 8 of said act, plaintiff in error was denied the defense of assumption of risk on the part of defendant in error, and stated the language of the act to the jury."
"The plaintiff in error claims that it was not, and was laid by for repairs. But we are inclined to think otherwise. Its cargo had not reached its destination, and was not then ready for the delivery to the consignee, wherewith the commerce would have ended.
Its stoppage in the yard was an incident to the transportation. The injury to the coupler was one easily repaired without being taken to a repair shop, and the car was being hauled upon the track when the accident occurred,"
for life. The case amply justifies the verdict, and the judgment should be affirmed."
Nor were the judges of the circuit court of appeals in accord as to the meaning and scope of the Safety Appliance Act -- Judges Lurton and Severens holding that the statute, reasonably construed, did not impose on the carrier an absolute duty to provide automatic couplers of the kind specified by Congress, and did not subject the carrier to the penalties prescribed, if it appeared that due care and diligence were exercised in meeting the requirements of the act. Judge Richards was of opinion that the statute did not make care and diligence on the part of the carrier ingredients in the act condemned, and that, independently of any inquiry as to its care or diligence, the carrier was liable to the penalty, if the coupler used was not, in fact such a one as the statute required. The circuit court of appeals, in its opinion, said that the trial court gave the law to the jury by stating the language of the statute, but in such a way as to lead the jury to suppose that the statute imposed an absolute duty on the carrier to keep its cars in good order at all times. An order was therefore made reversing the judgment of the circuit court, and directing the case to be sent back for a new trial. But this Court granted a writ of certiorari, and the case is here primarily for the review of the judgment of the circuit court of appeals.
best endeavor to meet the requirements of the statute, has been rejected by this Court in Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway Co. v. United States, just decided, ante, p. 220 U. S. 559, and on the authority of that case, we hold that the circuit court of appeals erred in the particular mentioned.
"when the evidence given at the trial, with all inferences that the jury could justifiably draw from it, is insufficient to support a verdict for the plaintiff, so that such a verdict, if returned, must be set aside, the court is not bound to submit the case to the jury, but may direct a verdict for the defendant."
"If you conclude that he did that as a reasonably prudent man, with his experience and his observation and the facts and circumstances in the case as I have detailed or undertook to state them here, and if you believe that that was done as a reasonably prudent man would have done it, then he would not be barred in this action; but if you believe that his conduct in the manner in which he attempted to couple that car was such that a reasonably prudent man, situated as he was under all the facts and circumstances that surrounded him there, would not have attempted to do it, and that it was a negligent way to attempt to do it, and such a negligent way as a reasonably prudent man with his experience and observation would not have attempted, then he would be guilty of negligence, and that negligence, if you believe it was the proximate cause of the injury, would be such as to bar him in this action, and that question I leave to you entirely without intimating any opinion about it."
"as the case must be remanded for a new trial, we need not express our opinion upon the evidence, which may not assume the same aspect upon the new trial."
circuit court. Lutcher & Moore Lumber Co. v. Knight, 217 U. S. 257, 217 U. S. 267. In this view, the judgment of the circuit court of appeals must be reversed because, for the reasons above stated, it erred in not holding that the statute under which the case arose imposed on the carrier an absolute duty to provide its cars, when moving interstate traffic, with the required couplers, and keep them in proper condition, and that too without any reference to the care or diligence which might have been exercised in performing its statutory duty. But, on looking further into the record from the circuit court, we find that no error of law was committed by that court; for it proceeded on the construction of the statute which this Court has approved in Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad v. United States, just decided, ante, p. 220 U. S. 559. Nor did the circuit court commit any error in respect to any issue of contributory negligence. It properly submitted that question to the jury. Therefore, the reversal of the judgment of the circuit court of appeals, on the ground we have above stated, constitutes no reason why the judgment of the trial court should be disturbed.
For the reason stated, the judgment of the circuit court of appeals must be reversed; but as we do not perceive that any error of law was committed in the circuit court to the prejudice of the carrier, the judgment of the latter court must be affirmed.
MR. JUSTICE LURTON did not participate in the decision by this Court in this case.

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