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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 56', '§ 23', '§ 344', '§ 1257', '§ 28', '§ 34', '§ 51', '§ 23', '§ 91', '§ 91', '§ 54', '§ 751', '§ 53', '§ 54', '§ 1', '§ 32', '§ 91', '§ 22']

URIE V. THOMPSON, 337 U. S. 163 - Volume 337 - 1949 - Full Text - US Supreme Court Center - USSC Cases - Nolo
US Supreme Court Center > Volume 337 > URIE V. THOMPSON, 337 U. S. 163 (1949) > Full Text
The primary question is whether the coverage of the Federal Employers' Liability Act and the Boiler Inspection Act [Footnote 1] includes injuries in the nature of occupational disease, here silicosis, or is confined exclusively to injuries inflicted by accident. After having been twice before the Supreme Court of Missouri, the case is here on certiorari, 335 U.S. 809, for review of its final decision on the second appeal that recovery may not be had for other than accidental injuries. A statement of the course taken by the proceedings in the state courts, as well as of the facts, becomes necessary for resolving the issues presented.
as silicosis. This permanently disabling affliction had been caused by continuous inhalation of silica dust blown or sucked into the cabs of the locomotives on which he had worked. The injurious concentration of silica dust in the air breathed by petitioner arose from the railroad's use in its locomotives' sanding boxes of sand materials containing 80 to 90 percent of silica or silicon dioxide and the emission by the locomotives' faultily adjusted "sanders" [Footnote 2] of such sand materials in excessive amounts beyond those needed to provide traction for locomotive wheels. Respondent Thompson, trustee of the railroad since 1933, "knew, or by the exercise of due care should have known," of the danger of silicosis arising from the conditions of petitioner's employment. [Footnote 3]
Employers' Liability Act without regard to respondent's negligence, Lilly v. Grand Trunk Western R. Co., 317 U. S. 481, 317 U. S. 485-486; petitioner had stated a cause of action. Furthermore, the court held that the Federal Employers' Liability Act's three-year statute of limitations, 45 U.S.C. § 56, did not bar petitioner's claim, since his "cause of action accrued in May, 1940, when he became incapacitated. . . ." 352 Mo. at 222, 176 S.W.2d at 477. Accordingly, the court reversed the judgment and remanded the cause for trial.
45 U.S.C. § 23. [Footnote 4] The violations alleged were (1) that the sanders were broken or faultily adjusted so as to release too much sand, and (2) that the locomotive decks and cabs were in a bad state of repair,
Upon respondent's appeal the Missouri Supreme Court reversed the judgment entered on this verdict. 357 Mo. 738, 210 S.W.2d 98. Noting that, on the former review, it did not "treat with a contention that "silicosis" is not an evil at which the Act is aimed," id. 357 Mo. at 746, 210 S.W.2d at 102, the court concluded that the Boiler Inspection Act "is aimed at promoting safety from accidental injury, as distinguished from injury due to the gradual inhalation of harmful dusts." Id. 357 Mo. at 749, 210 S.W.2d at 105. It was to review the state supreme court's successive constructions of the Federal Employers' Liability and Bailer Inspection Acts that our writ was issued.
Urie filed suit on November 25, 1941. Under the terms of the then prevailing three-year statute of limitations, [Footnote 5]
the court could not entertain the claim if Urie's "cause of action accrued" before November 25, 1938. Respondent contends that Urie, having been exposed to silica dust since approximately 1910, must unwittingly have contracted silicosis long before 1938, and hence that his "cause of action" must be deemed to have "accrued" longer than three years before the institution of this action. Alternatively it may be argued that each inhalation of silica dust was a separate tort giving rise to a fresh "cause of action," and that Urie is therefore limited to a claim for inhalations between November 25, 1938, and the spring day in 1940 when he became incapacitated. [Footnote 6]
Nor can we accept the theory that each intake of dusty breath is a fresh "cause of action." In the present case, for example, application of such a rule would, arguably, limit petitioner's damages to that aggravation of his progressive injury traceable to the last eighteen months of his employment. Moreover petitioner would have been wholly barred from suit had he left the railroad, or merely been transferred to work involving no exposure to silica dust, more than three years before discovering the disease with which he was afflicted. [Footnote 7]
Associated Indemnity Corp. v. Industrial Accident Commission, 124 Cal.App. 378, 381, 12 P.2d 1075, 1076. The quoted language, used in a state workmen's compensation case, seems to us applicable in every relevant particular to the construction of the federal statute of limitations with which we are here concerned. Accordingly, we agree with the view expressed by the Missouri
Supreme Court on the first appeal of this case, that Urie's claim, if otherwise maintainable, is not barred by the statute of limitations. [Footnote 8]
From the opinions of the state supreme court, we know judicially [Footnote 9] that its judgment negating the general claim for negligence was coupled with its subsequently repudiated conclusion that petitioner had stated a cause of action under the Boiler Inspection Act and that, consequently, the court remanded the cause for trial, not for dismissal. The judgment therefore was not final; it was interlocutory, and not reviewable here within the meaning
of our jurisdictional statute. 28 U.S.C. § 344(b) (now § 1257(3)). [Footnote 10]
Whatever the effect of the state supreme court's ruling for further proceedings in the state courts, [Footnote 11] it could not impose such an alternative upon petitioner. Local rules of practice cannot bar this Court's independent consideration of all substantial federal questions actually determined in earlier stages of the litigation by the court whose final adjudication is brought here for review. Zeckendorf v. Steinfeld, 225 U. S. 445, 225 U. S. 454; Messinger v. Anderson, 225 U. S. 436, 225 U. S. 444. Even so, we think sound practice would see to it that such questions were expressly preserved in the later stages of review. But, as this Court has had occasion heretofore to observe, its power to probe issues disposed of on appeals prior to the one under review is, in the last analysis, a "necessary correlative" of the rule which limits it to the examination
of final judgments. Louisiana Navigation Co. v. Oyster Commission, 226 U. S. 99, 226 U. S. 102. [Footnote 12]
person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in such commerce . . . for such 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 section does not define negligence, leaving that question to be determined, as the Missouri Supreme Court said, "by the common law principles as established and applied in the federal courts." 352 Mo. at 218, 176 S.W.2d at 474. Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 304 U. S. 64, has no application. What constitutes negligence for the statute's purposes is a federal question, not varying in accordance with the differing conceptions of negligence applicable under state and local laws for other purposes. Federal decisional law formulating and applying the concept governs. [Footnote 13] Hence, the Missouri Supreme Court's decision on the first appeal, that the complaint did not state a cause of action for negligence, is subject to our independent review, and is not to be taken as governed conclusively by the state court decisions which alone were cited in support of the determination.
Upon the assumption that silicosis, when caused by the employment, is a compensable employee "injury," the adequacy of petitioner's claim turns solely on whether his original complaint alleged facts raising a triable issue of negligence. We think that, under the standards heretofore set and followed by this Court, [Footnote 14] the facts alleged in the complaint and taken as admitted by the demurrer clearly stated a cause of action for negligence.
come into the cab and be breathed by petitioner, and that, over a period of time, the breathing was "dangerous to the health and life, and would likely cause to the plaintiff the condition resulting to the plaintiff." The complaint then stated the further allegations set forth in the margin, [Footnote 15] together with the following paragraph:
that faultily adjusted sanding devices are the rule, rather than the exception on American steam locomotives.
But we also reject the premise, for we think that negligence, within the meaning of the Federal Employers' Liability Act, attached if respondent "knew, or by the exercise of due care should have known," that prevalent standards of conduct were inadequate to protect petitioner and similarly situated employees. Cf. Hill v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 336 U.S. 911, rev'g 229 N.C. 236, 49 S.E.2d 481. See also Sadowski v. Long Island R. Co., 292 N.Y. 448, 456-457, 55 N.E.2d 497. [Footnote 16] Respondent's knowledge, actual or constructive, of the alleged inadequacies of the sanding equipment was a jury question. Whether petitioner was then or now would be able to shoulder the burden of proving respondent's knowledge we need not surmise, though the evidence adduced by petitioner at trial under the Boiler Inspection Act -- indicating that others besides petitioner had observed and reported defects in respondent's
locomotive equipment -- underscores our insistence that issues of fact are matters for the jury. [Footnote 17]
Accordingly, we think the state court's ruling that the facts stated in the original complaint were insufficient to constitute a charge of negligence on respondent's part, within the meaning of the Federal Employers' Liability Act considered apart from the effect of the Boiler Inspection Act, was wrong and must be overruled. What was said by the New York Court of Appeals in Sadowski v. Long Island R. Co., supra, 292 N.Y. at 455-456, 55 N.E.2d at 500, in sustaining a recovery for silicosis under the Act, fits very closely the facts of this case and represents, in our opinion, the correct view:
"Ordinary care must be in proportion to the danger to be avoided and the consequences that might reasonably be anticipated from the neglect (Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Company v. Jones, 95 U. S. 439; Bailey v. Central Vermont R. Co., supra [319 U.S. 350]). It must be commensurate with known dangers. Defendant created the
place in which the work was done and supervised the doing of the work by plaintiff, and was aware for a period of at least sixteen years of the conditions under which plaintiff was required to work, and of the means and methods by which its work was accomplished. It is a matter of common knowledge that it is injurious to the lungs and dangerous to health to work in silica dust, a fact which defendant was bound to know. [Footnote 18]"
We recognize, of course, that, when the statute was enacted, Congress' attention was focused primarily upon injuries and death resulting from accidents on interstate railroads. [Footnote 19] Obviously these were the major causes of injury and death resulting from railroad operations. But accidental injuries were not the only ones likely to occur. And nothing in either the language or the legislative history discloses expressly and intent to exclude from the Act's coverage any injury resulting "in whole or in part from the negligence" of the carrier. If such an intent can be found, it must be read into the Act by sheer inference.
course of liberal construction of the Act followed by this Court. [Footnote 20]
We recognize, with respondent, that the Federal Employers' Liability Act is founded on common law concepts of negligence and injury, subject to such qualifications as Congress has imported into those terms. If respondent were right in suggesting that the common law does not recognize occupational disease as a category of compensable injury, he would lend substance to the argument that Congress' use of the word "injury" was less broad than the word's surface connotation indicates. However, although the contrary view has been advanced, [Footnote 21] we are satisfied that the difficulties which have attached to tort recovery for occupational disease inhere not in the nature of the wrong, but in the difficulty of proving negligence. For, as the Ohio Supreme Court observed with reference to silicosis,
Triff v. National Bronze & Aluminum Foundry Co., 135 Ohio St.191, 195, 20 N.E.2d 232, 234. We do not doubt that, at
"common law, the incurring of a disease or harm to health is such a personal wrong as to warrant a recovery if the other elements of liability for tort are present. [Footnote 22] "
Viewing the Federal Employers' Liability Act as a negligence statute, we think that arguments drawn from the coverage accorded occupational diseases in state workmen's compensation statutes cannot control the present inquiry. And yet we may note in passing that decisions under such statutes, to whatever extent they may be thought relevant, offer little support to respondent's narrow view of the federal legislation before us. True it is that the British Workmen's Compensation Act of 1897, 60 & 61 Vict. c. 37, although covering anthrax contracted by claimant from a particular and identifiable processing of wool, Turvey v. Brinton's Ltd., [1904] 1 K.B. 328, aff'd, [1905] A.C. 230, was held to exclude gradual lead poisoning. Steel v. Cammell, Laird & Co., [1905] 2 K.B. 232. But it is equally true that the statute there construed provided for compensation only in cases of "personal injury by accident," (emphasis added), a limitation much stressed by the opinions in Steel v. Cammell, Laird & Co., supra. And see Walker v. Lilleshall Coal Co., [1900] 1 Q.B. 488. Decisions in this country have uniformly followed the early British rule in construing such terms as "accident" and "accidental injury," as well as "personal injury by accident." [Footnote 23]
Court of Ohio excluded occupational diseases in view of the special legislative and constitutional context of the statute considered, while recognizing that otherwise it would be "no difficult matter to bring within the purview of the words "personal injuries sustained in the course of employment" occupational diseases incurred in course of employment." Industrial Commission v. Brown, 92 Ohio St. 309, 312-313, 110 N.E. 744, 745; cf. Industrial Commission v. Roth, 98 Ohio St. 34, 120 N.E. 172. The Connecticut Supreme Court, relying on its common law view that "typical" occupational diseases were not compensable, likewise excluded occupational diseases from its "personal injury" statute. Miller v. American Steel & Wire Co., 90 Conn. 349, 97 A. 345. But against this line of authority may be set the view of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, speaking by Chief Justice Rugg, which held that blindness caused by noxious industrial vapors was a "personal injury" within the meaning of the Massachusetts statute. Hurle's Case, 217 Mass. 223, 104 N.E. 336.
Consonant with the Massachusetts statute is the one compensation act the meaning of which may be thought directly to bear on congressional use of the word "injury" in the federal negligence statute with which we are today concerned. The Federal Employees' Compensation Act of May 30, 1908, 35 Stat. 556, approved less than two months after the Federal Employers' Liability Act, provided compensation for certain classes of federal employees "injured in the course of . . . employment." Under this statute compensation was awarded for, inter alia, inhalation of dust and fine scale, [Footnote 24] lead poisoning, [Footnote 25]
cardiac hypertrophy caused by inhalation of ether, [Footnote 26] and throat tuberculosis aggravated by brass poisoning. [Footnote 27] In short, the workmen's compensation cases offer little comfort
While no decision of this Court involving the Federal Employers' Liability Act has dealt specifically with silicosis, the New York Court of Appeals, as we have indicated above, has sustained recovery under the Act for that disease when resulting from the carrier's negligence. This was done in circumstances not substantially different from those alleged in petitioner's original complaint, except that the facts involved no possible application of the Boiler Inspection Act. Sadowski v. Long Island R. Co., supra. Moreover, other state and federal decisions have authorized recovery under the Act for injuries not caused by accidental or violent means. These include Shelton .v Thomson, 148 F.2d 1; 157 F.2d 709, where recovery was permitted for carbon monoxide poisoning; Baltimore & O. R. Co. v. Branson, 128 Md. 678, 98 A. 225, reversed on other grounds, 242 U.S. 623, in which recovery was allowed for paint poisoning. Cf. Chicago, R.I. & P. R. Co. v. Cheek, 105 Okl. 91, 231 P. 1078. Not all of these decisions could be sustained if the statutory term "injury" were held to require that the harm suffered from the employer's negligence must be confined to that inflicted by "external, violent and accidental" means or be an "accidental injury," as respondent's narrow view of the statute's coverage seems to contemplate.
virtue of the ruling on the remand for trial, that the only cause of action stated was that arising under the Boiler Inspection Act, the court, on the second appeal, treated the question whether silicosis was a compensable injury substantially as if the Boiler Inspection Act was a wholly independent statute, unrelated in the scope of its coverage, for purposes of employees' suits for breach of its provisions, to the Employers' Liability Act's terms, i.e., as if the question arose solely under the Boiler Inspection Act.
But, by its own terms, the Boiler Inspection Act, like the Safety Appliance Acts, [Footnote 28] does not purport to confer any right of action upon injured employees. It merely makes violation of its prohibitions "unlawful." [Footnote 29] Yet it has been held consistently that the Boiler Inspection Act supplements the Federal Employers' Liability Act by imposing on interstate railroads "an absolute and continuing duty" to provide safe equipment. Lilly v. Grand Trunk Western R. Co., supra, at 317 U. S. 485; Southern R. Co. v. Lunsford, 297 U. S. 398, 297 U. S. 401; cf. Baltimore & O. R. Co. v. Groeger, 266 U. S. 521, 266 U. S. 528-529.
"in any case where the violation by such common carrier of any statute enacted for the safety of employees contributed to the injury or death of such employee. [Footnote 30]"
"refers to 'any defect or insufficiency, due to its negligence, in its cars, engines, appliances,' etc., it clearly is the legislative intent to treat a violation of the safety appliance act as 'negligence,' -- what is sometimes called negligence per se."
San Antonio & A.P. R. Co. v. Wagner, 241 U. S. 476, 241 U. S. 484.
of the Interstate Commerce Commission, 45 U.S.C. § 28, or directly promulgated by the Commission, Napier v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 272 U. S. 605, 272 U. S. 611-613, on the basis of proper findings. United States v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 293 U. S. 454. Violations of the Commission's rules are violations of the statute, giving rise not only to damage suits by those injured, Lilly v. Grand Trunk Western R. Co., supra, but also to money penalties recoverable by the United States. 45 U.S.C. § 34.
As with the Employers' Liability Act, we do not doubt that the prime purpose of the Boiler Inspection Act was the protection of railroad employees, and perhaps also of passengers and the public at large, cf. Fairport, P. & E. R. Co. v. Meredith, 292 U. S. 589, from injury due to industrial accident. The safety of all those affected by railroading was uppermost in the legislative mind. But again, as with the Employers' Liability Act, we cannot accept the view that protection of employee health is not embraced by the congressional plan. [Footnote 31] Indeed, as to the Boiler Inspection Act, this Court has twice had
occasion to make clear its contrary view, Napier v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., supra; United States v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., supra, at 293 U. S. 458-459.
In the Napier case, the question for decision was the validity of Wisconsin and Georgia regulations requiring locomotives to be equipped with, respectively, cab curtains and an automatic fire door. Each state regulation was challenged as an invasion of power over interstate commerce which Congress, through enactment and amendment of the Boiler Inspection Act, had seen fit to exercise. Each regulation was defended as being directed to protection of the health, rather than the safety, of railroad employees. The unanimous Court, speaking through Mr. Justice Brandeis, struck down both regulations
272 U.S. at 272 U. S. 613.
This last-quoted sentence merely recognized that, theretofore, the Interstate Commerce Commission had not regulated with an eye to employee health; it did not and does not support the view that employee health was thought not to be within the compass of the Act, as other language in Napier, 272 U.S. at 272 U. S. 611-613, makes amply clear:
Thus, the Boiler Inspection Act vests in the Interstate Commerce Commission rulemaking power adequate to protect employees against disease as well as against accident, and the power to make rules for employee health has been exercised. [Footnote 32]
We hold that petitioner's injury is one compensable under the Boiler Inspection Act. We hold further, in the light of the trial instructions and such evidence as appears in the record before us, [Footnote 33] that the jury was justified in finding (1) that respondent breached the Boiler
Inspection Act (as more specifically articulated in I.C.C.Rule 120, governing sanders), [Footnote 34] and (2) that such breach was a proximate cause of petitioner's injury.
Respectively, 45 U.S.C. § 51 et seq., and 45 U.S.C. § 23 et seq.
"Sander" is, colloquially, the name given by railroad men to the entire apparatus appurtenant to a locomotive which stores sand and pipes it to the rails as needed to provide traction. The apparatus is mandatory equipment in interstate commerce, I.C.C.Rule 120, 49 C.F.R. § 91.120; I.C.C.Rule 235, 49 C.F.R. § 91.235. For succinct descriptions of a compressed-air powered sanding apparatus, see the successive opinions in Anderson v. Baltimore & O. R. Co., 89 F.2d 629 and 96 F.2d 796.
Section 2 was first enacted in 1911 to cover the locomotive boiler and its appurtenances, 36 Stat. 913. It was broadened in 1915 to include the entire locomotive and tender, 38 Stat. 1192, and see the 1924 amendment. 43 Stat. 659.
Compare the New York Court of Appeals' similar application, to a silicosis claim, of the Federal Employers' Liability Act's statute of limitations. Sadowski v. Long Island R. Co., 292 N.Y. 448, 457-458, 55 N.E.2d 497.
The opinion rendered on the first appeal, 352 Mo. 211, 176 S.W.2d 471, extensively quotes the original complaint's allegations concerning negligence, id. 352 Mo. at 215-216, 176 S.W.2d 471, and a copy of that complaint appearing in the present record shows that the quotations comprehend substantially all of the allegations in that respect. The present record does not include a copy of the text of the judgment rendered on the first appeal; but that deficiency is merely formal, if it is a deficiency in any sense, since the opinions on both appeals supply us with full knowledge of the nature and effect of that judgment.
United States v. Denver & R.G. R. Co., 191 U. S. 84, 191 U. S. 93. See Coe v. Armour Fertilizer Works, 237 U. S. 413, 237 U. S. 418-419; Gospel Army v. City of Los Angeles, 331 U. S. 543, and authorities cited.
Cf. Creason v. Harding, 344 Mo. 452, 463-464, 126 S.W.2d 1179.
Grays Harbor Logging Co. v. Coats-Fordney Logging Co., 243 U. S. 251, 243 U. S. 256-257. Accordingly, even if it were assumed that no federal question of substance was decided on the second appeal and that the
Gant v. Oklahoma City, 289 U. S. 98, 289 U. S. 100. See generally Boskey, Finality of State Court Judgments under the Federal Judicial Code, 43 Col.L.Rev. 1002, 1007, 1016.
Bailey v. Central Vermont R. Co., 319 U. S. 350, 319 U. S. 352; Chesapeake & Ohio R. Co. v. Kuhn, 284 U. S. 44, 284 U. S. 46-47; St. Louis, I.M. & S. R. Co. v. McWhirter, 229 U. S. 265, 229 U. S. 277; Second Employers' Liability Cases, 223 U. S. 1, 223 U. S. 54-55, 223 U. S. 57-58. Cf. Schlemmer v. Buffalo, R. & P. R. Co., 205 U. S. 1.
See, e.g., Ellis v. Union Pacific R. Co., 329 U. S. 649; Western & Atlantic R. Co. v. Hughes, 278 U. S. 496. Cf. Brady v. Southern R. Co., 320 U. S. 476; Chicago, M. & St.P. R. Co. v. Coogan, 271 U. S. 472.
The decision in Sadowski v. Long Island R. Co., 292 N.Y. 448, 55 N.E.2d 497, sustaining a recovery for silicosis under the Federal Employers' Liability Act. contained the following statements, which are relevant to the apparent ruling of the Missouri Supreme Court with respect to compliance with customary trade standards:
"The implication from this allegation is that the sanders as such were not defective, but that the trouble was maladjustment. Just what was wrong with the adjustment is not alleged, and plaintiff does not claim that the situation is one for the res ipsa loquitur rule."
Nor do we find merit in respondent's contention that Urie, prior to the 1939 amendment abolishing assumption of risk as a defense to ordinary negligence suits under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. § 54, 53 Stat. 1404, amending 35 Stat. 66, assumed the risk of injury. Nothing in Urie's original complaint remotely suggests such knowledge on his part of the likelihood of contracting silicosis as would justify the conclusion that Urie "anticipated and decided to chance the particular risk. . . ." Owens v. Union Pacific R. Co., 319 U. S. 715, 319 U. S. 723. Accordingly, we are not called on to determine whether any retroactive effect is to be given the 1939 amendment, which this Court has described as requiring that "cases tried under the Federal Act . . . be handled as though no doctrine of assumption of risk had ever existed." Tiller v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 318 U. S. 54, 318 U. S. 64. Specifically we need not consider whether, even assuming the amendment was not intended to cover injuries accruing before its enactment but sued on thereafter (an open question in this Court, see Owens v. Union Pacific R. Co., supra, at 319 U. S. 725), the amendment nonetheless covers injuries which, like Urie's accrued and were sued on thereafter, but where the beginning of the alleged assumption of risk may have antedated the amendment.
See 42 Cong.Rec. 4265, 4426-4439, 4526-4551, 4755; H.R.Rep. No. 1386, 60th Cong., 1st Sess., S.Rep. No. 460, 60th Cong., 1st Sess.
"The Act is not to be narrowed by refined reasoning. . . . It is to be construed liberally to fulfill the purposes for which it was enacted. . . ." Jamison v. Encarnacion, 281 U. S. 635, 281 U. S. 640. Similarly, the Boiler Inspection Act,
Lilly v. Grand Trunk Western R. Co., 317 U. S. 481, 317 U. S. 486.
See, e.g., Cell v. Yale & Towne Mfg. Co., 281 Mich. 564, 566, 275 N.W. 250; but cf. id. 281 Mich. at 567-568, 275 N.W. 250.
Hurle's Case, 217 Mass. 223, 224, 104 N.E. 336, 337; see Hood & Sons v. Maryland Casualty Co., 206 Mass. 223, 92 N.E. 329; cf. Gentry v. Swann Chemical Co., 234 Ala. 313, 317 318, 174 So. 530. See Banks, Employer's Liability for Occupational Diseases, 16 Rocky Mt.L.Rev. 60, 61-64.
See, e.g., Jeffreyes v. Charles H. Sager Co., 198 App.Div. 446, 191 N.Y.S. 354, aff'd, 233 N.Y. 535, 135 N.E. 907; Iwanicki v. State Industrial Accident Commission, 104 Or. 650, 205 P. 990. Restrictive constructions of the term "accident" and its variants have generally been followed by agitation, now largely successful, for legislation specifically extending compensation to occupational disease. See, e.g., Perry, Occupational Disease Legislation, 2 Newark L.Rev. 83; Occupational Disease Compensation, 26 Am.Lab.Leg.Rev. 2; Andrews, The Tragedy of Silicosis, id. at 3. For local studies of the problems posed, see Owens, Diseases and Injuries to Health under the Wisconsin Workmen's Compensation Act, 1945 Wis.L.Rev. 357; 3 John Marshall L.Q. 241.
Claim of Edward Devine, Feb. 9, 1915, Opinions of Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor (1915) 277. Whether the earlier decision that pneumonia was not compensable, Claim of John Sheeran, Apr. 25, 1910, 28 Op.Atty.Gen. 254, is consistent with the foregoing cases, or with cases awarding compensation for "the bends," Claim of Wm. Murray, Nov. 3, 1911, Opinions of Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor (1915) 239, or sunstroke, Claim of J. J. Walsh, Mar. 16, 1911, id. at 231, we need not determine; Congress' dissatisfaction with the distinction is clear from the course of subsequent legislation:
When the Federal Employees' Compensation Act of May 30, 1908, was superseded in 1916 by the broader and still extant general federal employee compensation system, 5 U.S.C. § 751 et seq., the statute as originally enacted provided compensation for "disability" or "personal injury" without further qualification or definition. 39 Stat. 742. Proposals specifically to include occupational disease were rejected, at least in part, for the reasons that, at the committee hearings,
53 Cong.Rec. 10899. In 1924, the 1916 Act was amended, 43 Stat. 389, "to correct two rulings of the Comptroller General of the United States. . . ." H.R.Rep. No. 280, 68th Cong., 1st Sess. 1. One of the rulings remedied was that occupational diseases were not included within the 1916 Act; the other ruling was that the Comptroller General had power to review decisions of the United States Employees' Compensation Commission. As to the first of these errors, the House Judiciary Committee, in reporting out the 1924 amendment, expressly referred to its 1916 report, H.R.Rep. No. 678, 64th Cong., 1st Sess. 7, to show that, in drafting the 1916 Act, "the committee intended to remedy the inadequacy of the act of May 30, 1908, with reference to occupational diseases.'" H.R.Rep. No. 280, 68th Cong., 1st Sess. 3. See 65 Cong.Rec. 8154.
See note 4 and text
In ordinary negligence claims under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, contributory negligence, while not a bar to the action, is available in diminution of damages, 45 U.S.C. § 53, 35 Stat. 66. Assumption of risk was a complete defense to negligence claims, Seaboard Air Line Ry. v. Horton, 233 U. S. 492, 233 U. S. 503; until its abolition in 1939, 45 U.S.C. § 54, 53 Stat. 1404, amending 35 Stat. 66. See Tiller v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 318 U. S. 54.
The quoted statutory phrase was held to acknowledge creation of a cause of action "under the Federal Employers' Liability Act" for personal injury to an employee due to violation of the Safety Appliance Acts, 45 U.S.C. § 1 et seq., since,
Moore v. Chesapeake & O. R. Co., 291 U. S. 205, 291 U. S. 210. Similarly, an employee injury suit alleging violation of the Boiler Inspection Act is brought "under the Federal Employers' Liability Act. . . ." Lilly v. Grand Trunk Western R. Co., 317 U. S. 481, 317 U. S. 485.
Respondent places some reliance on the proposition that congressional limitation of the Boiler Inspection Act to accidental injury must be inferred from the provision requiring the carrier to report every locomotive "accident" resulting in "serious injury." 45 U.S.C. § 32. We see no reason to think that a policy requiring the reporting of all injuries the causes of which are readily identifiable in terms of time and place compels the conclusion that other injuries, the origins of which may be remote and ill-defined at the moment of diagnosis, should not be compensable when the carrier's underlying responsibility becomes a matter of demonstrable fact. It is to be noted, furthermore, that an argument similar to respondent's was rejected with reference to congressional intent to include occupational diseases in the 1916 Federal Employees' Compensation Act, H.R.Rep. No. 280, 68th Cong., 1st Sess. 3, and, although advanced with reference to the 1908 Federal Employees' Compensation Act, Claim of A. E. Clark, Dec. 17, 1908, Opinions of Solicitor, U.S. Department of Labor (1915) 188, 190, did not bar compensation of the questionably "accidental" injuries described in the text at notes 24-27 supra.
E.g., the requirement for closing "unnecessary or excessive openings in locomotive cabs," imposed by I.C.C.Rule 116(g), 49 C.F.R. § 91.116(g), after the Napier decision, was, as the opinion announcing the rule makes plain, designed to protect the health of firemen and engineers from wind, snow and rain. Wisconsin R. Comm'n v. A. & R.R. Co., 142 I.C.C.199. The rule, not squarely applicable to the present case, since limited to the winter months, was formulated after extended hearings in a proceeding in which the Missouri Pacific, like almost every other major American railroad, was a named party defendant. Wisconsin R. Comm'n v. A. & R.R. Co., supra, Transcript of Record, Complaint of Railroad Commission of Wisconsin, p. 17. In the light of the instant case, it is of interest to note that the Engineer's Brotherhood and the Firemen's Brotherhood, interveners in support of the proposed rule, alleged need for protection from, inter alia, "excessive . . . sand and dust storms." Transcript of Record, supra, Joint Petition of Intervention of Alvanley Johnston and D. B. Robertson, p. 3; Amended Joint Petition of Intervention of Alvanley Johnston and D. B. Robertson, p. 3. No substantial evidence seems to have been adduced to support the allegation, Transcript of Record, supra, Brief for Intervening Brotherhoods, pp. 14-15, although there was evidence of severe winter wind in Missouri, Transcript of Record, supra at 2056, and in other parts of the country, id. at 2136, 2369, 4541, 5005, 6088, 6350. The Interstate Commerce Commission noted in its opinion that
It is of no consequence that Rule 120 may not have been specifically called to the jury's attention. Lilly v. Grand Trunk Western R. Co., 317 U. S. 481, 317 U. S. 488-489. It is urged upon us that Rule 120 was designed to insure an adequate auxiliary braking system, rather than to protect employees against silicosis, and hence that, notwithstanding respondent's breach of the rule and the governing statute, petitioner cannot complain of an injury flowing from the breach which was not the injury the Interstate Commerce Commission sought to guard against. We do not dispute the narrow scope of Rule 120; nor do we doubt that conventional tort doctrine imposes absolute liability for violation of a statutory duty only where the injury is one the statute was designed to prevent. See, e.g., Di Caprio v. New York Central R. Co., 231 N.Y. 94, 131 N.E. 746; but cf. the remarks of Mr. Justice Brewer in Atchison, T. & S.F. R. Co. v. Reesman, 60 F. 370, 373. But we think the liability imposed by the Boiler Inspection Act is of broader character, and that the correct rule is the one laid down in Louisville & N. R. Co. v. Layton, 243 U. S. 617, 243 U. S. 621, which this Court has had repeated occasion to apply in connection with the Safety Appliance Acts:
See Davis v. Wolfe, 263 U. S. 239, 263 U. S. 243; Coray v. Southern Pacific Co., 335 U. S. 520, 335 U. S. 522-523; Brady v. Terminal R. Assn. of St. Louis, 303 U. S. 10, 303 U. S. 16; Swinson v. Chicago, St. P., M. & O. R. Co., 294 U. S. 529, 294 U. S. 531; Fairport, p. & E. R. Co. v. Meredith, 292 U. S. 589. Cf. Minneapolis & St. Louis R. Co. v. Gotschall, 244 U. S. 66; St. Louis & San Francisco R. Co. v. Conarty, 238 U. S. 243.
under that Act for suffering "injury." That term, it seems to me, is sufficiently broad to include bodily injury which nowadays is more specifically characterized as "occupational disease." Accordingly, I agree that recovery may be had under the Federal Employers' Liability Act for silicosis, where the facts sustain such a claim, as is illustrated by the case of Sadowski v. Long Island R. Co., 292 N.Y. 448, 55 N.E.2d 497.
On the other hand, I agree with the Missouri Supreme Court that occupational diseases cannot be fitted into the category of "accidents" for which the Boiler Inspection Act devised a scheme of regulation and a basis of liability. 36 Stat. 913, as amended, 45 U.S.C. §§ 22-34. I think I appreciate the humane impulse which seeks to bring occupational diseases within such a regime. But due regard for the limits of judicial interpretation precludes such free-handed application of a statute to situations outside its language and its purpose. To do so, moreover, is, I believe, a disservice to the humane ends which are sought to be promoted. Legislation is needed which will effectively meet the social obligations which underlie the incidence of occupational disease. See National Insurance (Industrial Injuries) Act, 1946, 9 & 10 Geo. 6, 488, particularly Part IV. The need for such legislation becomes obscured, and the drive for it retarded, if encouragement is given to the thought that there are now adequate remedies for occupational diseases in callings subject to Congressional control. The result of the present decision is to secure for this petitioner the judgment which the jury awarded him. It does not secure a proper system for dealing with occupational diseases.