Court Opinion

ID: 9421434
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:58:16.614894+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:30.168822
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Burton,
whom Mr. Justice Frankfurter, Mr. Justice Harlan and Mr. Justice Whit-taker join,
dissenting.
In this Federal Employers’ Liability Act suit, the District Court instructed the jury that the Safety Appliance Acts1 required the railroad to equip a gasoline-driven motor track car with a train brake and a push truck with a hand brake, and that the railroad was liable if its failure to furnish this equipment contributed to the accident. The correctness of this instruction presents the issue whether the Safety Appliance Acts apply to these small maintenance-of-way vehicles — the successors to the familiar handcars of years ago. The Court approves the instruction, and, in doing so, it holds that a motor car is a “locomotive,” that a push truck is a “car,” and that the two combined are a “train” as those terms are used in the Safety Appliance Acts. I do not find in the language of the Acts, their background and legislative history, or in the long-standing administrative practice of the Interstate Commerce Commission justification for so holding.
On November 1, 1951, respondent Jackson, the foreman of a Baltimore & Ohio maintenance crew, was engaged with two of his men in railroad maintenance work near Washington Grove, Maryland. At quitting time, the three men lifted a motorized track car and a push truck onto the tracks, coupled them together by hand, and boarded the motor car for their return to the section house about one mile away. It had been raining lightly *335and the tracks were wet. The motor car and push truck had traveled about 195 feet when Jackson, who was operating the motor car, saw a large dog about to cross the tracks in front of the car. He threw out the clutch and applied the hand brake with both hands. The brakes grabbed, the wheels locked and the vehicles slid “about 20 feet” on the wet tracks before striking the dog and overturning. Jackson was injured.
The motor track car on which Jackson and his crew were riding was a four-wheel maintenance-of-way vehicle weighing about 800 pounds. Powered by a gasoline motor and controlled with a throttle, clutch and hand brake, it was typical of the more than 60,000 vehicles of this type currently in use on American railroads to carry maintenance crews from section houses to places along the railroad where work is to be performed. The push truck was an even simpler vehicle. It consisted of four wheels, a chassis, and a fiat wooden platform, and could be pushed along the tracks by hand.
At the time of the accident, the push truck was attached to the rear of the motor car by a simple non-automatic link and pin device, and carried no load except a few tools. Jackson testified that the use of a push truck in conjunction with a motor track car was customary; that neither vehicle carried an unusual or excessive load; that each was provided with the usual equipment of such vehicles; and that the hand brake of the motor car was in proper working order at the time of the accident.
The Safety Appliance Acts make it mandatory that specified equipment be used on railroad vehicles covered by the Acts. Criminal penalties are imposed for each violation.2 Civil liability in damages under the *336Federal Employers’ Liability Act follows as a matter of course if the violation is a proximate cause of an employee’s injury.3 The vehicles subject to the Acts must be equipped with such devices as power driving-wheel brakes, appliances for operating a train-brake system, automatic couplers of a standard height, sill steps, grab irons and handholds, and hand brakes. In determining whether motor cars and push trucks must be equipped with such appliances, the language of the Acts is the proper starting point.
The Safety Appliance Acts apply expressly to “all trains, locomotives, tenders, cars, and similar vehicles used on any railroad engaged in interstate commerce . . . and to all other locomotives, tenders, cars, and similar vehicles used in connection therewith . . . .” 32 Stat. 943, 45 U. S. C. § 8. The term “similar vehicles” shows that all vehicles are not included. Motor cars and push trucks must come within the terms “locomotives,” “cars,” or “similar vehicles.”
The statutory context demonstrates that the crucial terms — “locomotives” and “cars” — were used in their ordinary sense as referring to standard operating equipment rather than to small maintenance-of-way vehicles like those involved in this case. For example, § 1, 27 Stat. 531, 45 U. S. C. § 1, which requires “power driving-wheel brake[s]” and a “train-brake system,” speaks in terms of a “locomotive engine,” “engineer,” “brakemen” and “train.” 4 A small motor car used to haul section *337hands and their tools to and from work would not ordinarily be called a “locomotive engine” except in jest, nor would a motor car with a push truck attached be referred to as a “train.” Much less would the section hand operating the motor car, who would ordinarily belong to a separate union — the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees — be referred to as an “engineer” or his crew as “brakemen.” This is language appropriate to vehicles and employees used in standard freight and passenger operations but not to a motor car towing a push truck.
Other sections indicate that the word “car” refers to standard railroad cars. Section 2 makes it unlawful for any railroad “to haul or permit to be hauled or used on its line any car . . . not equipped with couplers coupling automatically by impact, and which can be uncoupled without the necessity of men going between the ends of the cars.” 27 Stat. 531, 45 U. S. C. § 2. This section, as well as the detailed provisions of § 5 dealing with the prescribed height of drawbars on couplers, could not be applicable to cars of little more than a yard’s height easily coupled by hand without danger to anyone.5
The background and legislative history of the three Safety Appliance Acts confirm this view. Their history reveals not only that it never was suggested that the Acts were applicable to small maintenanee-of-way vehicles, *338but also that the stated objectives of the Acts would not be served by subjecting these vehicles to the Acts.
The recognized purpose of each of the Safety Appliance Acts was the protection of operating employees of railroads from the hazards involved in the movement of standard trains and cars. The first Safety Appliance Act, 27 Stat. 531, 45 U. S. C. §§ 1-7, enacted in 1893, was preceded by a decade of concern, not with light maintenance equipment, but with the death toll caused by the two major hazards facing railroad trainmen: (1) the necessity for operating employees to work between freight cars in coupling them, and (2) the necessity for brakemen to operate hand brakes while standing on the tops of freight cars.6 The Interstate Commerce Commission, the railroad Brotherhoods, and other groups advocated legislation which would reduce these hazards by requiring uniform automatic couplers and power brakes on freight trains.7 Congress was concerned wholly with these hazards and the Act adopted relates entirely to them.8
*339The present significance of these specific objectives is that they do not relate to motor cars and push trucks. Unlike standard railroad cars and trains, motor cars and push trucks do not require power brakes to bring them safely to a stop, and they do not endanger the section hands who couple them by pushing them together by hand. Operated and used by maintenance workers rather than by operating employees, motor cars and push trucks move at comparatively slow speeds and present hazards quite different from those faced by trainmen on standard trains.
By 1900, the railroads were in substantial compliance with the original Act.9 Nevertheless, the Interstate Commerce Commission, disturbed because some locomotives and standard cars were not required to be equipped with automatic couplers, recommended broadening amendments. These recommendations called for automatic couplers for all locomotives and for “all vehicles . . . which are ordinarily hauled or propelled by standard locomotives.” 10 The second Safety Appliance Act, enacted in 1903, 32 Stat. 943, 45 U. S. C. §§ 8-10, incorporated these recommendations. It extended the first Act to “all trains, locomotives, tenders, cars, and similar vehicles used on any railroad engaged in interstate commerce . . . and to all other locomotives, tenders, cars, and similar vehicles used in connection therewith . . . .” (Emphasis supplied.) Initially, the word “vehicles” in the bill was unqualified by the word “similar.” S. Rep. No. 1930, 57th *340Cong., 1st Sess. 16. However, a railroad representative objected to it on the ground that it was too broad and suggested the term “traffic cars.” Id., at 16-17. The legislative representative of the Brotherhoods opposed the suggested substitute because it might be thought inapplicable to “cabooses, steam shovels, snowplows, scale cars, and similar conveyances,” which are used in connection with standard equipment. Id., at 46. The result was that the word “vehicles” was qualified by the addition of “similar.” This indicates that the term “similar vehicles” was used to cover special equipment, such as snowplows, used in connection with standard equipment. Maintenance-of-way vehicles have never been capable of such use.
The third Safety Appliance Act, 36 Stat. 298, 45 U. S. C. §§ 11-16, enacted in 1910, supplemented the existing Acts so as to require additional safety appliances, but did not extend the coverage. “Cars” were to be equipped with secure sill steps and efficient hand brakes; “cars” requiring secure ladders and running boards were to be so equipped; secure handholds or grab irons were to be installed on the roofs at the tops of such ladders; and the Commission was to designate the standards for these and certain other appliances, as well as to modify or change the standard height for drawbars. These additions grew out of recommendations made by the Commission and their history reveals an intent to secure uniform equipment on operating cars.11 Uniformity was considered to be imperative because trainmen working on trains by day and by night would operate more safely if the appliances they needed — sill steps, ladders, running boards, grab irons and the like — -were uniform in character and location on all freight cars. Most *341of these appliances are not at all adapted to motor cars and push trucks. On these small vehicles there not only is little or no need for this equipment, but there is no suitable place to attach it.
The inapplicability of the Safety Appliance Acts to maintenance-of-way vehicles is confirmed by the longstanding administrative interpretation of the Interstate Commerce Commission and by numerous practical considerations. The Interstate Commerce Commission has administered these Acts for over half a century. During that time, it has, by its own statement, “never considered the small maintenance of way vehicles subject to those acts . . . .”12 Its order of March 13, 1911, specifying the number, dimensions and location of the appliances required by the Acts, omits all mention of motor track cars and push trucks.13 Motor cars are not subjected to the inspection required of “locomotives.” Maintenance-of-way vehicles are not considered as trains, locomotives or cars for accident reporting purposes.14
Despite the Commission's consistent construction of the Acts since their inceptions, the Court today states *342that “there has been no expressed administrative determination . . . Ante, p. 330. Not only was there no reason for the Commission to disclaim application, but its “negative” action in declining to subject these vehicles to the Acts is impressive because the Acts impose an affirmative duty on the Commission to enforce their provisions.15 The Commission and the Department of Justice have been aware that motor cars and push trucks used by American railroads were not equipped with automatic couplers, power brakes and so on. Their failure to prosecute evidences their interpretation of the Acts. Federal Trade Commission v. Bunte Brothers, Inc., 312 U. S. 349, 351-352.
The contemporaneous and long-standing interpretation of any regulatory Act by the agency that administers it is entitled to great weight.16 Here there are considerations entitling the Interstate Commerce Commission’s views to special respect. See Davis v. Manry, 266 U. S. 401, 404r-405. The Commission has played a predominant role in developing and perfecting the Acts, and Congress has given it broad discretionary powers in administering them. Its consistent interpretation of the Acts, known to Congress, the railroad industry and the railroad labor organizations, is persuasive evidence that the Acts never were intended to apply to motor cars and push trucks.17
*343It is also significant that the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, whose members operate and maintain motor cars in their work, never has contended that the Safety Appliance Acts apply to these vehicles. However, the Brotherhood has been active in soliciting other legislation which it feels will add to the safety of its members.18 It has sought legislation from Congress which would require strict enforcement of sound operating rules and regulations. Although supported by the Commission, these attempts thus far have failed.19 The Brotherhood, however, has secured other safety legislation. Largely at its request, 26 States, in recent years, have adopted legislation requiring specific equipment, such as headlights, taillights, windshields, windshield wipers and canopies, on motor track cars.20 This state legislation dealing expressly with the safety requirements of motor *344track cars indicates that the Federal Acts have not been thought to apply to them. As to the question of preemption, see Napier v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., 272 U. S. 605, 611.
Practical considerations, relating to the safety of railroad maintenance workers who use motor cars and push trucks, support the inapplicability of the Acts. The major hazard in the use of these vehicles is the risk of their collision with trains. It is important that maintenance-of-way vehicles be so light that three or four men can lift them quickly off the tracks. In contrast, most of the safety appliances required by the Acts have little or no relation to this or other safety requirements of these small vehicles. Whether it is feasible to equip them with power brakes, automatic couplers, and the other appliances specified in the Acts is highly conjectural. Motor cars and push trucks might, in fact, be rendered less safe by the addition of such appliances, not only because of the increased weight but because of the danger of sudden stops. A railroad brake expert in this case spoke of the danger of men being thrown from their open seats on a motor car by quick stops, and the Commission, in its amicus brief, states that “In the absence of tests showing otherwise, it would seem that power brakes on push trucks towed by a track motor car could well be about as dangerous a device to employees riding on such vehicles as one can imagine.” P. 20. According to the Commission, protection against collision with trains is better assured by strict enforcement of rules designed to give warning of train movements than by the addition of the safety appliances named in the Acts. In any event, such matters are peculiarly within its competence.
The Court’s decision is directly opposed to the Commission’s practice and opinion. It imposes onerous requirements, iinrelated to safety, on a large class of *345vehicles never before considered subject to the Acts.21 Nothing in the language of the Acts or in their history compels a disregard of the informed judgment of that expert authority which has the responsibility of their administration and enforcement.
I would sustain the view of the Interstate Commerce Commission and reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals.

 27 Stat. 531, as amended, 29 Stat. 85, 32 Stat. 943, 36 Stat. 298, 62 Stat. 909, 45 U. S. C. §§ 1-16.

 Section 6, 27 Stat. 532, 45 U. S. C. CO CO CO cCo o Zjx a <N CO to -<I GO O * O coo £

 See, e. g., Urie v. Thompson, 337 U. S. 163; Jacobson v. New York, N. H. & H. R. Co., 206 F. 2d 153.

 . . it shall be unlawful for any common carrier engaged in interstate commerce by railroad to use on its line any locomotive engine in moving interstate traffic not equipped with a power driving-wheel brake and appliances for operating the train-brake system, or to run any train in such traffic . . . that has not a sufficient number of cars in it so equipped with power or train brakes that the engineer *337on the locomotive drawing such train can control its speed without requiring brakemen to use the common hand brake for that purpose.” 27 Stat. 531, 45 ü. S. C. § 1.

 The language of § 3 reinforces this conclusion. It provides that a railroad that has complied with § 1 “may lawfully refuse to receive from connecting lines of road or shippers any car not equipped sufficiently . . . with such power or train brakes as will work and readily interchange with the brakes in use on its own cars . . . .” 27 Stat. 531, 45 U. S. C. § 3. It is concerned with the transfer of standard freight or passenger cars from one railroad to another and is not applicable to maintenance-of-way vehicles.

 See S. Rep. No. 1049, 52d Cong., 1st Sess. 2-3, 5; H. R. Rep. No. 1678, 52d Cong., 1st Sess. 1, 3; 1 Sharfman, The Interstate Commerce Commission (1931), 246, n. 4. Since passenger cars, by 1893, had generally been equipped with the required appliances — train brakes and automatic couplers — they did not present the same hazards to trainmen.

 The Commission recommended enactment of legislation in 1889 after completing a general investigation of railroad safety conditions. It continued to press for legislation until the enactment of the first Safety Appliance Act in 1893. See Interstate Commerce Commission Activities, 1887-1937 (1937), 118-120; Third Ann. Rep., I. C. C., for 1889, 44r-45, 84-101; Fifth Ann. Rep., I. C. C., for 1891, 337-340; Sixth Ann. Rep., I. C. C., for 1892, 69-70.

 The 1893 Act was entitled “An act to promote the safety of employees and travelers upon railroads by compelling common carriers engaged in interstate commerce to equip their cars with automatic couplers and continuous brakes and their locomotives with driving-wheel brakes, and for other purposes.” The only provision *339which might be thought to be unrelated to power brakes or automatic couplers was the requirement in § 4 of “secure grab irons or handholds in the ends and sides of each car” and this requirement was expressly stated to be “for greater security to men in coupling and uncoupling cars.” 27 Stat. 531, 45 U. S. C. §4.

 Fourteenth Ann. Rep., I. C. C., for 1900, 76.

 Fifteenth Ann. Rep., I. C. C., for 1901, 68; Sixteenth Ann. Rep., I. C. C., for 1902, 61.

 Twenty-third Ann. Rep., I. C. C., for 1909, 40-41; S. Rep. No. 250, 61st Cong., 2d Sess. 2; H. R. Rep. No. 37, 61st Cong., 2d Sess.

 “For over half a century, the Commission has administered the Safety Appliance Acts, as well as the other acts relating to railroad safety. During this period, the Commission has never considered the small maintenance of way vehicles subject to those acts, and we submit that the foregoing contemporary and legislative histories furnish a sound foundation for its view. That legislation is concerned with locomotives, ears and similar vehicles which employees were formerly required to go between to couple, or to ascend to use the hand brake. The acts are designed primarily to reduce or eliminate those hazards. They should not be construed to apply to entirely different types of equipment whose operation does not involve such risks.” Brief of Interstate Commerce Commission, as amicus curiae, 18-20.

 This order was amended in 1943 and republished in 1946. 49 CFR, 1949, Pt. 131.

 See I. C. C., Accident Bulletin No. 124 for 1955, 94.

 Under § 6 of the original Safety Appliance Act, 27 Stat. 532, 45 U. S. C. § 6, and §§ 5 and 6 of the third Safety Appliance Act, 36 Stat. 299, 45 U. S. C. §§ 14 and 15, the Interstate Commerce Commission has the mandatory duty of informing United States District Attorneys of violations of the Acts; these attorneys have the mandatory duty to prosecute violators; and railroads are liable for a penalty of $100 for each violation.

 See, e. g., Norwegian Nitrogen Products Co. v. United States, 288 U. S. 294, 311-315; Wisconsin v. Illinois, 278 U. S. 367, 413.

 The two federal court decisions relied on by the Court are distinguishable. The 18-foot gasoline tractor which was held to be *343a “locomotive” in Hoffman v. New York, N. H. & H. R. Co., 74 F. 2d 227, was equipped with an automatic coupler, was used to haul standard railroad cars and was capable of hauling 22 freight cars loaded with cement. Such a vehicle bears little resemblance to the motor track car involved here. United States v. Fort Worth & D. C. R. Co., 21 F. Supp. 916, is even less in point. In that case it was held that a large Browning steam locomotive crane, engaged in hauling standard railroad cars, was a “locomotive” and the combination of cars a “train” within the meaning of the Acts. The Florida decision, Martin v. Johnston, 79 So. 2d 419, lends little support because the state court appears to have been unadvised of the above-stated purpose, legislative history, and administrative interpretation of the Acts.

Hertel, History of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (1955), 212-213.

 See H. R. Rep. No. 1558, 81st Cong., 2d Sess. 3-4; Hearings before House Subcommittee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce on H. R. 378 and H. R. 530, 81st Cong., 1st Sess. 17-54.

 Hertel, op. cit. supra, 213. See, e. g., Mass. Acts 1952, c. 430, and 1951, c. 174; Mich. Stat. Ann., 1955 Cum. Supp., §§ 22.965, 22.966, 22.968 (1) (2).

 The Court also rejects the railroad’s alternative contention that motor track cars and push trucks, if within the purview of the Acts, are excepted from the Acts by virtue of the proviso in § 6 exempting “trains composed of four-wheel cars or . . . locomotives used in hauling such trains.” 27 Stat. 532, 29 Stat. 85, 45 U. S. C. § 6. This proviso confirms the view expressed in this dissent that power brakes, automatic couplers, and the other specified appliances are not required of motor track cars and push trucks. The exception, on its face, applies to them as four-wheel vehicles. And, although the legislative history indicates that Congress had four-wheel coal cars primarily in mind, the proviso is not expressly limited to coal cars and is thoroughly consistent with a purpose to exempt from the Acts maintenance vehicles that are not suited to the prescribed safety appliances.