Opinion ID: 1484921
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Facts Called for Submission to the Jury.

Text: In approaching the matter, we start with the fact that, because of the nature of the Federal Employers' Liability Act and its aim to aid the employee injured in the course of his employment, courts do not encourage any action which deprives the employee of the right to have determined by a jury the controversy between him and his employer on the merits. Tennant v. Peoria & P. U. Ry. Co., 1944, 321 U.S. 29, 64 S.Ct. 409, 88 L.Ed. 520; Tiller v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 1945, 323 U.S. 574, 65 S.Ct. 421, 89 L.Ed. 465; Jeseonowski v. Boston & Main R., 1947, 329 U.S. 452, 67 S.Ct. 401, 91 L.Ed. 416, 169 A.L. R. 947; Ellis v. Union Pac. R. Co., 1947, 329 U.S. 649, 653, 67 S.Ct. 598, 91 L.Ed. 572, Callen v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 1948, 332 U.S. 625, 68 S.Ct. 296, 92 L.Ed. 242; Wilkerson v. McCarthy, 1949, 336 U.S. 53, 69 S.Ct. 413; Lukon v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 3 Cir., 1942, 131 F.2d 327; Croker v. Central Vermont Ry., 2 Cir., 1949, 172 F.2d 324. See, also Raymond J. Moore, Recent Trends in Judicial Interpretation in Railroad Cases Under Federal Employers' Liability Act, 1946, 29 Marquette Law Rev., 73. Assuming, therefore, for the moment, that the plaintiff was not foreclosed from questioning the release, the evidence given before the court by him  the interpretation of which must be most favorable to him  see, Gunning v. Cooley, 1930, 281 U.S. 90, 94, 50 S.Ct. 231, 74 L.Ed. 720; Schad v. Twentieth Century-Fox, 3 Cir., 1943, 136 F.2d 991, 993; Meyonberg v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 3 Cir., 1947, 165 F. 2d 50, 52; Stueber v. Admiral Corp., 7 Cir., 1949, 171 F.2d 777, 779, showed a mistake on his part which went to the essence of the contract and which, as will presently appear, entitled him, under the law, to have the question of the validity of the release submitted to the jury. Butte Copper & Zinc Co. v. Amerman, 9 Cir., 1946, 157 F. 2d 457; Engstrom v. Auburn Automobile Sales Corp., 1938, 11 Cal.2d 64, 77 P.2d 1059, 1061. We stop to inquire what law governs. Ever since the enactment of the Federal Employers' Liability Act, the courts have held that questions arising under it must be determined by Federal, not by State law. Chicago, M. & St. P. Ry. v. Coogan, 1926, 271 U.S. 472, 473, 46 S.Ct. 564, 70 L.Ed. 1041; Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co. v. Kuhn, 1931, 284 U.S. 44, 52 S. Ct. 45, 76 L.Ed. 157; Jacobs v. Reading Co., 3 Cir., 1942, 130 F.2d 612. These rulings are consonant with the general tendency to apply Federal law to all cases which call for the interpretation of Federal statutes creating rights. This works for uniformity. A contrary rule would be disastrous to the establishment of a jurisprudence on strictly Federal subjects. And this would be especially true in matters arising under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, where the employee may resort to the State courts to enforce his rights. If uniformity were not assured through the integrated Federal judicial system, the employee would be subjected to the constant ebb and flow of local judicial opinion in the State where he may bring his action. Hence the logic of the attitude of the courts in this matter. In applying this principle, courts have held, in very recent years, that the validity of a release, entered into by an employee entitled to the benefits of the Federal Employers' Liability Act, is also governed by Federal law. While the Supreme Court has not ruled on the question under this particular law, we have an analogous ruling made under the Merchant Marine Act, 46 U.S.C.A. § 688, that a seaman's attack on the validity of a written release, was governed by Federal, not local law. Garrett v. Moore-McCormack Co., Inc., 1942, 317 U.S. 239, 63 S.Ct. 246, 87 L.Ed. 239. Several courts of appeal  notably those for the second and sixth circuits  have taken their clue from this opinion and applied it to the Federal Employers' Liability Act. Ricketts v. Pennsylvania R. Co., 1946, 2 Cir., 153 F.2d 557, 164 A.L.R. 387; Irish v. Central Vermont R., 2 Cir., 1947, 164 F.2d 837; Thompson v. Camp, 6 Cir., 1947, 163 F.2d 396. But, whether we consider the problem from the standpoint of Federal or State law, the result is the same. Generally, mistake or fraud are recognized grounds for the rescission of agreements of compromise and release of any character, including those made under this Act. Great Northern R. Co. v. Fowler, 9 Cir., 1905, 136 F. 118; Armour & Co. v. Renaker, 6 Cir., 1913, 202 F. 901; Great Northern R. Co. v. Reid, 9 Cir., 1917, 245 F. 86; Scheer v. Rockne Motors Corp., 2 Cir., 1934, 68 F. 2d 942; Robert Hind, Ltd., v. Silva, 9 Cir., 1935, 75 F.2d 74; Southwest Pump & Machinery Co. v. Jones, 8 Cir., 1937, 87 F.2d 879, per Gardner, C. J.; Tulsa City Lines v. Mains, 10 Cir., 1939, 107 F.2d 377; Komer v. Shipley, 5 Cir., 154 F.2d 861; Thompson v. Camp, supra; Ricketts v. Pennsylvania R. Co., supra; Irish v. Central Vermont R., supra; United States v. Jones, 9 Cir., 1949, 176 F.2d 278, 285-286. The California cases accord. [1] Under the teachings of these cases, the statement of a physician as to the condition of a patient is a statement of fact. As said by the Court in Scheer v. Rockne, supra [68 F.2d 945]: There is indeed no absolute line to be drawn between mistakes as to future, and as to present facts. To tell a layman who has been injured that he will be about again in a short time is to do more than prophesy about his recovery. No doubt it is a forecast, but it is ordinarily more than a forecast; it is an assurance as to his present condition, and so understood. What may be the result if the patient acts upon the physician's statement was summed up by the Court in Matthews v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Ry. Co., supra, 54 Cal.App.2d, at page 558, 129 P.2d at page 441: It was believed by plaintiff, and if it was also believed by the physician, the case is one of mutual mistake. If the statement was not believed by the physician, we have a case of fraud. In either case the plaintiff was entitled to rescind, and it is not disputed here that the steps he took were sufficient to accomplish that result. Similar language is found in Union Pacific R. Co. v. Zimmer, supra, 87 Cal.App. 2d at page 530, 197 P.2d at page 367. It is clear from the testimony that the X-rays taken at the hospital in August, 1945, showed the crushed disc. The plaintiff was not informed of that fact; he did not learn of it until February 13, 1946, when so informed by Dr. Fenlon. In the present state of the record, we cannot say whether Dr. Morrison's failure to disclose the true condition was willful or whether he did not read the X-rays correctly. In the last analysis, however, the matter is unimportant. For, if the doctor was mistaken, as was the plaintiff, as to the existence of a permanent injury, we have a case of mutual mistake. If the mistake was only on the part of plaintiff, but was induced by the carelessness of Dr. Morrison, there was the type of mistake for which the cases just cited grant relief. See especially Great Northern R. Co. v. Fowler, supra; Great Northern R. Co. v. Reid, supra. If there was willfulness in the failure to disclose, we have a case of fraud. In any of the three situations, the broad terms of the release ( including any injuries which may hereafter develop ) did not stand in the way of rescission. As said by District Judge Wolverton, speaking for this Court, in Great Northern R. Co. v. Reid, supra, 245 F., at page 89: The release itself is as broad as it could be made, acquitting the company of all liability arising on account of the injuries received by appellee, whether then appearing or growing out of the same by development in the future, or arising or to arise out of any and all personal injuries sustained at any time or place while in the employ of the railway company prior to the date of the release. In such a release, however, the general language will be held not to include a particular injury, then unknown to both parties, of a character so serious as clearly to indicate that, if it had been known, the release would not have been signed. [Emphasis added.] [2] The basis for the reasoning in these cases is that, regardless of the wording of the release, a settlement made without regard to an undisclosed physical condition cannot stand because the settlement intended by both the parties was for the injuries and damages disclosed and then known by the parties. Southwest Pump & Machinery Co. v. Jones, supra, 87 F.2d, at page 881. And see Bonici v. Standard Oil Co., 1939, 2 Cir., 103 F.2d 437, 438-439. The defendant in this case pleaded the release of October 1, 1945, as a defense. The plaintiff, without further pleading, was entitled to show that the signing of the release was induced by mistake or fraud. The plaintiff testified definitely that he did not, at the time the release was signed, believe that he had this injury to the spine; that he believed that his injuries were not serious and that, as urged by Dr. Morrison, he could and should go back to work as quickly as possible. The jury might well have believed that he would not have entered into this release had he been informed of the true nature of the injury which he had suffered and of its permanency. There is evidence in the record that the injury is traceable to the accident and that it is of a permanent nature, requiring surgery to correct. The plaintiff had the right to have submitted to the jury, for their determination, these facts. As said by the court in Wilson v. San Francisco Oakland Terminal Railways, supra, 48 Cal.App., at page 349, 191 P., at page 978: The courts have frequently held in no uncertain terms that, where a release is tainted with fraud, it should not be sustained, and that the question of whether or not such taint exists is one to be submitted to and decided by the jury. In Kansas City M. & B. Ry. Co. v. Chiles, 86 Miss. 361, 38 So. 498, it was said: `No release of this nature should be upheld if any element of fraud, deceit, oppression, or unconscionable advantage is connected with the transaction. And in passing on the validity of such release, when assailed, all surrounding conditions should be fully developed, and the relative attitudes of the contracting parties clearly shown. So that the jury, in the clear light of the whole truth, may rightly decide which story bears the impress of verity.' [Emphasis added.] [3] This attitude accords with the views of this court, which considers even an innocent misrepresentation of the facts of the releasor's injury, made by the releasee's physician, Great Northern R. Co. v. Fowler, 9 Cir., 136 F. 118, 121, as a ground for voiding a release induced by it. In the light of these principles, we conclude that plaintiff's attack on the release presented a factual situation which called for determination by a jury.