364 A.2d 420 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1976
Appellant filed a complaint in trespass and assumpsit against appellees
[a] 11 persons and all firms and corporations . hereby are restrained and enjoined . . . from commencing or continuing any proceeding against the Debtor, whether for obtaining or for the enforcement-of any judgment or decree or for any other purpose, provided that suits or claims for damages caused by the operation of trains, buses, or other means of transportation may be filed and prosecuted to judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction . (Record at 71a).
The lower court, presumably
I
Appellant, who had been employed by appellee
Appellant’s trespass action is grounded upon the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. § 51. As summarized in appellant’s brief, “the theory of the second count is that the appellees, by forcing the appellant to perform work for which he was unfit because of his physical condition, are required to respond in monetary damages under the [FELA].” Brief for Appellant at 3. See Nuttall v. Reading Co., 235 F.2d 546, 549 (3d Cir. 1956) (Goodrich, J.).
II
,We may vacate the stay entered by the court below only if appellee’s refusal to pay appellant a disability pension in the amount demanded by appellant, and appellee’s alleged exacerbation of appellant’s debilitated physical condition, were “caused by the operation of trains.” 11 U.S.C. § 205(j). We have concluded that the court below did not err in staying the proceedings.
Illustrative cases in which the proviso to 11 U.S.C. § 205(j) was construed and a stay of proceedings denied
One court has suggested in dictum that the proviso pertains only to personal injury claims. In re Chicago & E. I. Ry., 121 F.2d 785 (7th Cir.), cert. denied Chicago & Eastern Illinois R. R. v. Gourley, 314 U.S. 653, 62 S.Ct. 102, 86 L.Ed. 523 (1941). This restrictive interpretation has been criticized, 5 Collier, Bankruptcy ¶ 77.12 at 516, 517 n. 41 (14th ed. 1974), and courts have denied stays of actions involving claims solely for damage to freight. See, e. g., Liquid Carbonic Corp. v. Erie R. R., 171 Misc. 969, 14 N.Y.S.2d 168 (City Ct.N.Y.Cnty.1939).
In juxtaposition to the causes of action asserted in the foregoing cases, appellant’s alleged injuries, and his disability pension claim, are not causally related to the actual movement of appellee’s trains or the maintenance of its equipment. Appellant’s injuries were “caused by the operation of trains” only in the sense that his employer is a railroad. Unlike the claims asserted in the reported cases denying stays, appellant’s claims have no direct causal connection with the actual movement of appellee’s railroad cars. Appellant may well have been exploited by his employer, but that is not a danger peculiar to the railroad business. See also Restatement (Second) of Torts, § 431 and comment a, at 428-29 (1965).
Finally, appellant contends that even if the lower court’s order was correct on the merits, it must nonetheless be vacated since the petition for a stay was not presented to the lower court until “the eve of trial.” (Brief for Appellant at 13.) The District Court’s order of March 22, 1967, however, affected the jurisdiction of the lower court to hear appellant’s suit,
Accordingly, the order of the lower court is affirmed,
. According to appellees’ answer, appellee Lehigh and New England Railway Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of appellee Central Railroad Company of New Jersey (Record at 24a). Appellee R. D. Timpany is successor Trustee of appellee Central Railroad Company of New Jersey, appointed by the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey on January 18, 1971 (Record at 60a).
. There is no opinion from the lower court as required by former Pa.Super.Ct.R. 46. See Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a).
. For the sake of convenience we shall use the term “appellee” to refer to the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey.
. Appellee’s answer contended that appellant was “employed by The Central Railroad Company of New Jersey and thereafter by the Trustee of the property of The Central Railroad Company of New Jersey and thereafter by the Lehigh and New England Railway Company. [Appellant] was Division Sales Manager for [appellee] The Lehigh and New England Railway Company, at the
. Although appellant was a managerial employee of appellee at the time of his forced retirement, he apparently is within the coverage of the Act since, as Division Sales Manager, his duties were in “furtherance of interstate or foreign commerce.” 45 U.S.C. § 51. See Reed v. Pennsylvania R.R., 351 U.S. 502, 76 S.Ct. 958, 100 L.Ed. 1366 (1956).
. The filing of the petition for reorganization in the District Court gave that court “exclusive jurisdiction of the debtor and its property wherever located.” 11 U.S.C. § 205(a).
. We note that Chief Judge LORD has reached the same conclusion in an identical suit filed by appellant in federal court. Haberern v. Lehigh & N. Eng. Ry. Co., 412 F.Supp. 285 (E.D.Pa.1976).