113 F. Supp. 275 | E.D. Pa. | 1952
This matter involves two separate actions, one by William C. Ferguson and the other by the administratrix of the estate of Lonnie Moore against the' Philadelphia Transportation Company, the former having been injured and the latter having been killed while in the employ of said company. The case arises on a motion to dismiss by the defendant, the Philadelphia Transportation Company, and the sole question at issue in the matter is whether the provisions of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act are pertinent.
The defendant operates a system of street railway and bus lines in the City of
There are no trolleys or busses 'operated to Camden by the defendant, and it has no connection with any bridge systems leaving from Pennsylvania to New Jersey. No freight or mail is carried on any part of the defendant’s system, although under Pennsylvania law the street railways chartered as common carriers are required upon demand of the United States Government to carry mails at a price mutually agreed upon, or if no agreement, the sum is to be fixed by the Public Service Commission. Act of April 22, 1909, P.L. 114 § 1, 67 P.S. § 1248.
An examination of the authorities which have considered, the qu'estion of whether street railway companies may be brought under the regulation of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, supra, hold that the length of its road or its track is not to be considered controlling in the determination of whether the Act is applicable, United States v. Sioux City Stock Yards Co., 8 Cir., 162 F. 556, and the converse is equally true that it does not of itself compel a finding that a common carrier by railroad exists; for while it is true that certain defendant routes extend for short distances beyond the limits of the City of Philadelphia and that it does operate some twenty-six cars owned by the Delaware River Bridge Joint Commission under an agreement with that body over the Bridge and for a distance of about 1.2 miles from the center line of the Bridge to the Broadway Station in Camden, New Jersey, these locations are for the purposes of transportation practically part of the City of Philadelphia and are but extensions of the city streetcar system. A careful reading of the cases gives the Court this view, as evidenced in Mangum v. Capital Traction Co., 59 App.D.C. 241, 39 F.2d 286, and cited with approval in Keffer v. Capital Transit Co., 87 U.S.App.D.C. 13, 183 F.2d 808, where the facts are closely analogous to the situation here in question and which point up the difference between a street railway and a railroad or common carrier by railroad as was the case in Washington Railway & Electric Co. v. Scala, 244 U.S. 630, 37 S.Ct. 654, 61 L.Ed. 1360, pressed upon us for consideration by the plaintiff.
Defendant’s motion to dismiss in each action is granted.
. The Act of April 22, 1908, 35 Stat. 65, as applicable here provides : “Every common carrier by railroad while engaging in commerce between any of the several States * * * shall be liable in damages to any person suffering injury while he is employed by such carrier in such commerce, or, in case of tbe death of such employee, to his or her personal representative, for the benefit of the surviving widow * * *; and, if none, then of the next of kin dependent upon such employee * * 45 U.S.C.A. § 51; By amendment of August 11, 1939, 53