140 A. 618 | Pa. | 1927
Argued December 6, 1927. The plaintiff, Miller, was injured as a result of a defect in a car coupler while working for the Reading Company, defendant. Admittedly, the railroad was engaged generally in interstate business, but, at the time of the accident, Miller was employed as a brakeman in the Port Richmond yard about a train undertaking intrastate movements. He brought an action to recover for injuries sustained, averring both a violation of the Federal Employers' Liability and the Safety Appliance Acts. The evidence introduced at the trial failed to disclose an employment in interstate commence, and therefore no recovery could be had by reason of the first cause set up, but the proof established a loss occasioned by failure to comply with the requirements of the federal Act of March 2, 1893, as amended March 2, 1903, in that defective appliances furnished for use resulted in the damage complained of. The liability of defendant, under the circumstances, was submitted to the jury, and a verdict was rendered for plaintiff. From the judgment entered, this appeal is taken.
The Federal Liability Act can be taken advantage of only when an engagment by the defendant in interstate commerce appears (Smith v. P. R. Ry. Co., *47
It is contended that our Workmen's Compensation Act (June 15, 1915, P. L. 736) furnished a proper and exclusive remedy for all employees sustaining injuries in the course of their service, and to it alone must plaintiff look for redress, as its provisions were impliedly accepted by him, since he failed to dissent in writing from an assumption of obligation thereunder. It is said that the rights of master and servant are now regulated by the legislation referred to, and, where the parties are within its scope when the injury occurs, an award of compensation as therein provided must be held to furnish the only satisfaction obtainable, and an action in trespass will not lie: Liberato v. Royer,
The constitutionality of the Compensation Act was sustained, against the objection that it interfered with the right of the individual to make his own contract: Anderson v. Carnegie Steel Co.,
The argument is made that, though the Workmen's Compensation Law is inapplicable to a case falling within the scope of the Federal Employers' Liability Law, because then interstate commerce is involved, yet the same is not true where the accident occurs in an intrastate movement, for in such instances the local legislation must fix the relative rights of the master and servant. Congress has seen fit to provide that certain appliances shall be used by railroads engaged in business between the states, or connected with others furnishing such service, and, for the protection of all, the performance of certain duties is made requisite. Recovery may be had by employees, irrespective of the character of their work at the particular moment of injury, when there has been a violation of the requirements as to the use of safety appliances. These rights of the one injured are not affected by the Workmen's Compensation Act, for the same underlying reasons which led to the conclusion that the Federal Employers' Liability Act may notwithstanding be enforced: McMahan v. Montour R. R. Co., supra. *49
Attention has been called to a decision in which a contrary view is expressed (D., L. W. R. R. Co. v. Peck, 255 Fed. 261), but a different conclusion was reached in Ross v. Schooley, 257 Fed. 290 (certiorari denied,
Appellant further argues that all power to sue for injury to an employee, except when engaged in interstate commerce, has been taken from our courts, and jurisdiction of all claims for losses sustained conferred on the compensation board. Therefore it is insisted *50
that, though a right of action may exist, where there has been a violation of the Safety Appliance Act by one engaged solely in intrastate commerce, yet the state courts have no power to entertain such claims, and any permissible suit must be instituted in some federal tribunal. The act of Congress gave to the employee rights not granted under state laws, and our courts have frequently sustained proceedings based on the federal statute in question (Sims v. P. R. R. Co., supra, and cases there cited) and the exercise of this jurisdiction has been approved on appeal to the United States Supreme Court: McMahan v. Montour R. R. Co., supra: Pursglove v. Ry.,
The enforcement of claims arising under the Safety Appliance Act, in personal injury actions, is not confined to the federal tribunals. The state courts must always hold themselves open for the prosecution of civil rights growing out of the laws of the United States: 2 Roberts Federal Liability of Carriers, sec. 877; Claflin v. Houseman,
The judgment is affirmed. *51