257 F. 290 | 7th Cir. | 1919
Schooley, a brakeman on plaintiff in error’s interstate railroad, met his death in Illinois by reason of defective couplers. Defendant in error recovered judgment for damages on account of the violation of the federal Safety Appliance Act. U. S. Comp. Stat. §§ 8605, 8613, 8617.
Because defendant in error omitted to aver and prove that decedent at the time of his injury was engaged in interstate commerce, the contention is made that the exclusive right and remedy are under the Illinois Workmen’s Compensation Act, which was in force at the time of the accident. Hurd’s Ill. Rev. Stat. 1916, c. 48.
If the accident had occurred while decedent was working in inter
Under the Employers’ Liability Act there is no need to count upon any state statute creating a liability for wrongful death, because that liability was expressly stated by the Congress. Inasmuch as the same legislative intent respecting liability is found in the Safety Appliance Act, the same result follows.
Recovery for wrongful death under the Employers’ Liability Act is for the benefit of the next of kin, but the action can be brought only by the administrator; and as there is no federal machinery for appointing administrators, resort in that respect must be had to state business. But that necessity is of no greater consequence under the Safety Appliance Act.
It is immaterial whether the injured employé was at the moment engaged in interstate or intrastate commerce, because the congressional power that was called into play was the power to prescribe the equipment of interstate carriers for the protection of all persons upon such roads, both employes and travelers, regardless of their participation in interstate commerce. A state Legislature, therefore, has no more power to curtail the federal right of an employé than of a traveler.
What effect a state compensation law has upon the right under the Safety Appliance Act of an employé, who was injured through defective appliances while coupling intrastate cars on an interstate railroad, has not been directly involved in any case in the Supreme Court cited by counsel or found by us. But our conclusion, which rejects a result
The judgment is affirmed.