Court Opinion

ID: 9563548
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:41:31.602895+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:54.231871
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
It is contended by the plaintiff on motion for rehearing that this court, in holding that the trial court erred in striking the defendant’s plea of the Georgia statute of limitation and the contributory negligence law of South Carolina, overlooked the fact that “the exclusive remedy afforded an injured railroad worker is the Federal Employers’ Liability Act,” and that in an action to recover under the provisions of that Act, the Federal law furnishes the sole and exclusive measure of the rights and liabilities of the parties and supersedes and prohibits rights and defenses arising under State law.
This argument is based on an erroneous assumption of law and is without merit. The Federal Employers’ Liability Act is not “the exclusive remedy afforded an injured railroad worker.” Recovery may be had in a proper case under State law or common law principles where the Federal Employers’ Liability Act is found to be inapplicable because of the absence of facts essential to bring the case within the purview of the Federal Act; *479that is, when it is not established that the employee was injured while engaged in the furtherance of interstate commerce and while acting within the scope of his employment. This is clearly recognized by the decisions of the United States Supreme Court in the cases of Wabash R. Co. v. Hayes, 234 U.S. 86 (34 SC 729, 58 LE 1226) and Boston & Maine R. Co. v. Armburg, 285 U.S. 234 (52 SC 336, 76 LE 729).
Thus, while this Act where applicable does supersede State law and furnishes the sole measure of the rights and liabilities of the parties, it “does not supersede the common and statutory law of the several States to such an extent that an employee of an interstate carrier must recover under that Act or not at all, whether within the terms of the Federal Act or not,” 35 Am. Jur. 878, Master & Servant, § 461. A petition stating a good cause of action under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act may, when the cause of action fails for want of proof of some fact essential to bring the claim within the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, be treated as affording a basis for a recovery under the State law if the plaintiff has made out a good cause of action thereunder. Wabash R. Co. v. Hayes, 234 U.S. 86, supra; Jenkins v. Southern R.-Carolina Div., 152 S.C. 386 (150 SE 128, 66 ALR 416); Atkinson v. Bullard, 14 Ga. App. 69 (80 SE 220); Atlantic C. L. R. Co. v. Frierson, 60 Ga. App. 465 (4 SE2d 131).
As pointed out in 35 Am. Jur. 878, Master & Servant, § 461, it is held in some States that a plaintiff who has alleged facts giving rise to a good cause of action under both the Federal Employers’ Liability Act and State law, must make an election as to which he shall attempt to prove, but such is not the law in this State. Under Georgia practice, recovery is had under the law applicable to the facts proved, whether it be State or Federal, and it is not necessary “for the plaintiff to affirmatively allege her right to recover under any particular law, either State or Federal. If her petition set forth facts which entitled her to recover under any law which the court had jurisdiction to apply, this was all that was necessary.” Atkinson v. Bullard, 14 Ga. App. 69, 70, supra.
This court did not overlook the established principle that *480the Federal Act where applicable supersedes State law. It was specifically recognized in the original opinion that defenses arising under State law are nullified and prohibited by the Federal Employers’ Liability Act when such law is applicable; and the defendant’s right to assert these defenses was held to be a conditional one only, subject to proof of the non-applicability of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act to this action. Since under Georgia practice, a plaintiff is not required to elect to proceed exclusively under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act but may recover under whatever law is shown by the evidence to be controlling, it necessarily follows that a defendant must likewise be accorded the right to rely on State law to defeat the plaintiff’s action provided that it can be shown that the Federal Employers’ Liability Act is not applicable.
We therefore adhere to our original ruling that the trial court committed reversible error in striking these conditional defenses and in refusing to reinstate them after the introduction ■of evidence which authorized the finding that the Federal Employers’ Liability Act was not applicable to this action.

Motion for rehearing denied.