Court Opinion

ID: 9586732
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:14:19.977569+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:48.914388
License: Public Domain

*8On Motion for Rehearing.
The defendant Louisville and Wadley Railroad Company contends that the pleadings show conclusively the applicability of the Federal Employers Liability Act to this suit. Paragraph 11 of the case before this court (No. 1612 in the City Court of Louisville) alleges: “Petitioner alleges that both of the defendants named herein are resident corporations of the State of Georgia, having been chartered and organized under the laws of the State of Georgia, and that both of said defendants are engaged in interstate commerce.” The answer to this paragraph reads as follows: “Defendant admits that it is a railroad corporation chartered and organized under the laws of the State of Georgia, and admits that it is sometimes engaged in interstate commerce depending upon the destination of the cargo it ships over its ten mile line, which lies entirely within Jefferson County, Georgia.” It is readily apparent that none of these allegations show that the freight train in the operation of which the plaintiff’s husband was participating when he was fatally injured was engaged in interstate commerce so as to make the F. E. L. A. applicable here. We have already decided in Division 2 of the original opinion that the evidence on this point is insufficient.
It is further argued that this court, in passing on the sufficiency of this evidence, has overlooked certain recent decisions of the U. S. Supreme Court, primarily Southern Pacific Co. v. Gileo, 351 U. S. 493 (76 S. Ct. 952, 100 L. Ed. 1357), concluding that the crucial question as to applicability of the F. E. L. A. is whether any part of the railroad employee’s duties “Furthers interstate commerce or in any way directly or closely and substantially affects such commerce.” While it is unnecessary that we rely upon it for this purpose, this decision further sustains the correctness of our position since there is no evidence in this case which satisfies the test of applicability set forth above.

Rehearing denied.