Court Opinion

ID: 9443060
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 19:09:55.773469+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:29:21.569896
License: Public Domain

BRATTON, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
The Federal Employers’ Liability Act, as amended, 45 U.S.C.A. § 51 et seql, was designed to protect the rights of railroad and other employees; and with that legislative purpose in mind, it is to be liberally applied. Lukon v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 3 Cir., 131 F.2d 327.
In each case of this kind the question whether the action may be maintained under the Act must be decided in the light of the particular facts with a view of determining whether at the time of the injury or death, the employee was engaged in interstate commerce or in an act which was so directly connected with such commerce as substantially to form a part or a necessary incident thereof. If so, the action may be maintained under the Act. New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Co. v. Carr, 238 U.S. 260, 35 S.Ct. 780, 59 L.Ed. 1298.
The deceased was still on the premises of the company at the time of the fatal accident. He had not left the premises since concluding the day’s work, and he intended to resume work the following morning. He was on the way to obtain groceries with which to sustain himself in order to continue his work for the company. And that was essential to the fulfilment of his employment. Viewed in the light of certain adjudications, some by the Supreme Court and others by Courts of Appeals, it seems reasonably clear to me that at the time of the accident the deceased was engaged in an act which constituted a necessary incident to his employment in commerce within the intent and meaning of the Act; and that, therefore, the action may be maintained under the Act. North Carolina Railroad Co. v. Zachary, 232 U.S. 248, 34 S.Ct. 305, 58 L.Ed. 591; New York Central & Hudson River Railroad Co. v. Carr, supra; Erie Railroad Co. v. Winfield, 244 U.S. 170, 37 S.Ct. 556, 61 L.Ed. 1057; Lukon v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co., supra; Mostyn v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Co., 2 Cir., 160 F.2d 15; Healy v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 3 Cir., 184 F.2d 209; Morris v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 2 Cir., 187 F.2d 837.