248 F. 407 | 9th Cir. | 1918
(after stating the facts as above).
The plaintiff challenges the validity of the Alaska act, on the ground that it denies the employé the equal protection of the law, and is in violation of section 9 of the Organic Act of the territory of Alaska, inhibiting the Legislature to “grant to any corporation, association or individual any special or exclusive privilege, * * * or franchise without the affirmative approval of Congress.” 48 U.S.C.A. § 77.
The particular features of the act which it is insisted render it nugatory are: First, that it is class legislation; second, that it is discriminatory in its provisions; third, that it possesses no characteristic of industrial insurance and no provision for payment of compensation; that it creates no official authority for adjustment of claims, but merely compounds a schedule of payments to which the injured is entitled, and is a limitation of liability on the part of the employer.
The suggestion that the act is in violation of section 9 of the Organic Act of the territory is not seriously pressed in the argument and briefs of counsel. Nor can it avail plaintiff, for it is manifest that the act grants neither privilege nor franchise to the mining companies of Alaska.
Counsel for defendant urges that the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution can have no application in the present controversy, because the amendment inhibits state action as it regards the denial of the equal protection of the laws, and does not, it is insisted, restrict the legislative action of a territory. This question may be waived, without deciding it, as we have concluded that plaintiff .cannot prevail upon either of the questions presented in his behalf.
For convenience, the third objection will first receive our attention. The gist of this objection to the validity of the. act is that it contains no feature of industrial insurance and no provision for the payment of compensation. While the act does not contain any provision for industrial
The New York act (Consol.Laws, c. 67) which is styled the “Workmen’s Compensation Law,” requires every employer subject to the provisions of the act to pay or provide compensation, according to a schedule, for the disability or death of his employé resulting from an accidental personal injury arising out of and in course of the employment, without regard to fault as a cause, except where the injury is occasioned by the willful intention of the injured employé, or where it results solely from his intoxication while on duty. A commission is created, with judicial functions, for passing upon claims, and a state insurance fund is provided for, to be made up primarily of premiums to be' paid by the employers. By the present act the district court is constituted a tribunal for ascertaining the legitimacy of the claims and the amount, but the so-called insurance feature, as we have previously indicated, is wanting. In practically all other respects, this act con■forms in principle with the New York legislation. The New York act was brought to test in the Supreme Court in the case of New York Central R. R. Co. v. White, 243 U.S. 188, 37 S.Ct. 247, 61 L.Ed. 667, L.R.A.1917D, 1, Ann.Cas.1917D, 629. Responding to three considerations urged adverse to the act — namely, (a) that the employer is subject to a liability for compensation without regard to any neglect or default on his part, and this though the injury may be solely attributable to the neglect or fault of the employé; (b) that the employé is prevented from obtaining compensation commensurate with the damages actually sustained; and (c) that both the employer and the employé
After referring to the scheme of compensation, the court continues: “Of course, we cannot ignore the question whether the new arrangement is arbitrary and unreasonable, from the standpoint of natural justice. Respecting this, it is important to be observed that the act applies only to disabling or fatal personal injuries received in the course •of hazardous employment in gainful occupation. Reduced to its elements, the situation to be dealt with is this: Employer and employé, by mutual consent, engage in a common operation intended to be advantageous to both; the
As it relates to the freedom of agreement respecting employment, the court is of the view that the act is fairly supportable on the ground that it is a reasonable exercise of the police power of the state. The court further says concerning the act, answering the objection advanced that it is inimical to the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment: “The only apparent basis for it is in exclusion of farm laborers and domestic servants from the scheme. But, manifestly, this cannot be judicially declared to be an arbitrary classification, since it reasonably may be considered that the risks inherent in these occupations are exceptionally patent, simple, and familiar.”
Now, all this discussion has proceeded independently of the industrial insurance feature of the act, and is as applicable and cogent here as to the New York act. The insurance feature, among other things, is designed to afford the employé adequate security for his compensation. In the present act, another scheme is evolved, intended to accomplish the same purpose. The particular method for accomplishing the purpose is mainly one of legislative choice, and so long as such method is reasonably adapted to the purpose, and is not arbitrary and without proper regard to cause and effect, it is beyond the scope of judicial function to disturb the choice. We think that the present legislation is reasonably adapted to secure to the employé the compensation provided for in the act. At least, it is such that the court will not say that the legislation is arbitrary and not based upon sufficient reason for its adoption.
In Hawkins v. Bleakly, 243 U.S. 211, 37 S.Ct. 255, 61 L.Ed. 678, Ann.Cas.1917D, 637, another case decided at the same time, involving the Iowa act (Acts 35th Gen. Assem. c. 147) relating to employers’ liability and workmen’s compensation, the same general reasoning is adopted for upholding the statute, and this again quite aside from the insurance provision. The Iowa act, in its general features, is practically the same as the New York act, and it was held that it is not inimical to that cause of the Four
This disposes of the third objection favorably to the validity of the act in question.
The law is assailed by the first objection on the ground that it is thought to be class legislation, and this because, out of all the industries, the Legislature has selected but one class, namely, mining concerns employing five or more persons in the work. This pertains, again, to the equal protection of the laws clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Classification of subjects for regulation by law is a function belonging to the legislative department of government. Generally speaking, class legislation is prohibited, but legislation which is limited in its application, if within the sphere of its operation it affects alike all persons similarly situated, is not within the prohibition. Barbier v. Connolly, 113 U.S. 27, 31, 5 S.Ct. 357, 28 L.Ed. 923.
The Legislature possesses a wide scope of discretion in the exercise of its function of classification, and such legislation can be condemned as vicious only when it is without any reasonable basis, and therefore purely arbitrary; and when legislative classification is called in question, if any state of facts can be reasonably conceived that would sustain the law, the existence of that state of facts at the time it was enacted must be assumed. Lindsley v. Natural Carbonic Gas Co., 220 U.S. 61, 31 S.Ct. 337, 55 L.Ed. 369, Ann.Cas.1912C, 160. To the same purpose, with elaborate discussion of the subject, see Miller v. Wilson, 236 U.S. 373, 382, 35 S.Ct. 342, 59 L.Ed. 628, L.R.A.1915F, 829; Louisville & Nashville R. R. v. Melton, 218 U.S. 36, 30 S.Ct. 676, 54 L.Ed. 921, 47 L.R.A.(N.S.) 84; Mondou v. New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R. Co., 223 U.S. 1, 32 S.Ct. 169, 56 L.Ed. 327, 38 L.R.A.(N.S.) 44; Cunningham v. Northwestern Improvement Co., supra.
The application of the rule here is simple. Mining is the one great industry of Alaska. It is attended by many hazards and complexities, and it is not strange that the
The second objection pertains to the elective aspect of the law. It is insisted that the law makes it more difficult for the workmen to make their election to accept the provisions, and to waive them when the election is once made, than for the employer, and that it is burdensome for the workmen to pay the expenses pertaining to verification and recording. This constitutes only a minor inequality, if inequality it can be called, and is without the indicia of arbitrary discrimination.
Lastly, it is insisted that the act makes no provision respecting workmen under the age of majority for accepting or rejecting the provisions of the act. The Legislature assumed, perhaps, that a minor, having the capacity to contract or to be contracted with, has the capacity to reject or waive such provisions. But, however that may be, minors are not denied the interposition of a guardian or next friend in doing the act for them.
Affirmed.