Great Northern Railway Company v. Donaldson/Opinion of the Court

Adaline Donaldson, as administratrix of the estate of Vance H. Thoms, deceased, brought suit in the superior court of Snohomish county, Wash., under the federal Employers' Liability Act (Act April 22, 1908, c. 149, 35 Stat. 65 [Comp. § . 1916, §§ 8657-8665]), to recover damages for injuries received which resulted in the death of Vance H. Thoms, by reason of a boiler explosion upon one of the defendant's engines upon which decedent was employed as an engineer.

The charges of negligence, in the amended complaint alleged to have resulted in the injury and death of the decedent were: That the boiler on the engine was insufficient in that:

1. The button heads of the crown bolts of the boiler were excessively and unnecessarily large and consequently unduly exposed to the direct heat produced by the oil fuel used on the locomotive;

2. That the boiler was not provided with fusible safety plugs;3. That scale was negligently allowed by defendant company, its officers and employes, to accumulate upon the crown sheet in the boiler.

The answer of the company denied negligence, and specifically set up the defense of contributory negligence and assumed risk on the part of the deceased. In the trial court the plaintiff recovered a verdict and judgment, and the judgment was affirmed in the Supreme Court of the state of Washington. 89 Wash. 161, 154 Pac. 133.

The ground of reversal principally urged here is that the testimony did not warrant a recovery by the plaintiff, and when properly considered required an instruction to the jury to find a verdict in favor of the company.

An examination of the record discloses that there was testimony tending to support the allegations of negligence set forth in the amended complaint. That the engine upon which the deceased was working had been a coal-burning engine but that at the time of the explosion the fuel used in its operation was, and for some time had been, oil. That the button heads on the bolts of the crown sheet at the top of the fire box (this sheet also formed the bottom of the water compartment over the fire box) were large ones when the engine was fired with coal, and were not changed with the change of fuel from coal to oil. That these button heads because of their size became overheated when oil was used for fuel, resulting in the deterioration and weakening of the strength of their material, and from the consequent giving away of the button heads, the crown sheet came down and the explosion resulted. There is also testimony tending to show that there was an accumulation of scale and a want of use of fusible plugs.

On the part of the company there was testimony tending to meet and refute that introduced by the plaintiff, and a considerable amount of testimony was introduced tending to show that the water in the boiler was too low, thereby causing the explosion from the fault of the deceased engineer in allowing it to become so. There was testimony for the plaintiff to the effect that the water was not too low at the time of the explosion. The trial court submitted these issues to the jury, with the result that a verdict was found in favor of the plaintiff. The circuit court held that there was evidence sufficient to sustain the verdict, and refused to disturb it. The Supreme Court of Washington affirmed the judgment. In this situation it is enough to say that it is not the province of this court to weigh conflicting evidence. The record shows testimony supporting the verdict, and that is as far as this court enters upon a consideration of that question.

Complaint is made that the trial court failed to give an instruction requested by the company as to assumption of risk, and as to the effect of the federal Boiler Inspection Act.

Section 4 of the federal Employers' Liability Act (35 Stat. 65) provides:

'That in any action brought against any common carrier under     or by virtue of any of the provisions of this act to recover      damages for injuries to, or the death of, any of its employes      such employe shall not be held to have assumed the risks of      his employment in any case where the violation by such common      carrier of any statute enacted for the safety of employes      contributed to the injury or death of such employe.' Comp. St. 1916, § 8660.

That the federal Boiler Inspection Act was enacted for the safety of employes is obvious. Section 2 of that act (Act Feb. 17, 1911, c. 103, 36 Stat. 913 [8 U.S.C.omp. Stats. 1916, § 8631]) provides:

'That from and after the first day of July, nineteen hundred     and eleven, it shall be unlawful for any common carrier, its      officers or agents, subject to this act to use any locomotive      engine propelled by steam power in moving interstate or      foreign traffic unless the boiler of said locomotive and appurtenances thereof are in proper condition and safe to      operate in the service to which the same is put, that the      same may be employed in the active service of such carrier in      moving traffic without unnecessary peril to life or limb, and      all boilers shall be inspected from time to time in      accordance with the provisions of this act, and be able to      withstand such test or tests as may be prescribed in the      rules and regulations hereinafter provided for.'

Counsel for the company at the trial upon assumed risk requested the following charge:

'You are instructed that even where an employer, such as a     railroad company, is negligent in the construction or      maintenance of its tools or equipment, such as a locomotive,      yet an employe who accepts, or continues his employment,      knowing of the existence of such defects or negligence, and      knowing the danger therefrom, assumes the risk of the injury      to himself from such defects and cannot recover if he is      injured as a result of them. This would not be true in the     present case, if the negligence or defects involved some      violation of a United States statute, but there is no      evidence of any violation of such a statute in this action,      so that the rule which I have just given to you would apply      in this case. Therefore, even if you find that the defendant     company had been negligent in adopting an improper type of      bolt, or in failing to install fusible plugs, or in some      other particular in the construction or maintenance of this      boiler, and even though you should also find that such      negligence caused the explosion, still, the plaintiff cannot      recover in this action, if you should also find that the      deceased, V. H. Thoms, was familiar with the type of      construction used, or the particular form of negligence      involved, and knew the danger likely to arise therefrom, or      if, in the exercise of a reasonable care, he should have      known of these things prior to the time of his injury.'

'You are instructed that the law provides that it shall be     unlawful for any common carrier, as was the defendant,      engaged in interstate commerce, to use any locomotive engine      propelled by steam power, unless the boiler of the locomotive      and appurtenances thereof are in proper condition and safe to      operate in the service to which the same is put, that the      same may be employed in the active service of said carrier in      moving traffic, without unnecessary peril to life and limb;      and that no employe shall be deemed to have assumed any risk      of death by reason of any locomotive engine operated in      violation of said law, and that no employe injured or killed      by reason of a locomotive engine operated in violation of      said law shall be held to have been guilty of contributory      negligence.

'Therefore, if you shall believe, from a fair preponderance     of all the evidence in the case, that the boiler of the      locomotive engine No. 1902 or the appurtenances thereof were      not in proper condition and safe to operate in the active      service of the defendant in moving traffic without      unnecessary peril to life or limb, by reason of the      negligence of the defendant, in any one or more of the three      respects alleged in the complaint, then and in that case      Vance H. Thoms assumed no risk of death and was guilty of no      contributory negligence, and the affirmative defenses must      fail.

'However, if such boiler and appurtenances were in proper     condition and safe for such use in moving traffic, but due to      defendant's negligence were defective i  one or more of the      respects alleged in the complaint and Vance H. Thoms had      actual knowledge of such defect or defects, or such defects      were so plainly observable that in the reasonable exercise of      his faculties he should have known of such and may be      presumed to have known thereof and the dangers that      surrounded him then Vance H. Thoms assumed the risks of injury and the plaintiff cannot      recover in this action.'

The charge requested is inconsistent with the provisions of section 4 of the federal Employers' Liability Act and section 2 of the Boiler Inspection Act. As given it is enough to say that it is more favorable to the company than the law requires. See Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. v. Proffitt, 241 U.S. 462, 468, 36 Sup. Ct. 620, 60 L. Ed. 1102.

The further contention is that the effect of this charge was to leave to the jury to determine the type of boiler construction, in respect to the use of the large button heads which are alleged to have made the engine unsafe to operate. And it is contended that there is testimony tending to show that the use of either the large or small kind of button heads was approved by the federal department of boiler inspection. Attention is directed to the testimony of an expert witness, offered by the defendant for the purpose of showing that low water was the cause of the explosion, in which he spoke of the use of the button heads of the larger and also of the smaller or taperhead kind, and was asked whether the United States government made certain requirements as to how boilers and engines should be constructed, to which he answered:

'No. Not as long as we have the proper factor of safety. * *      * They have a factor of safety, and the factor of safety is      five on the shell of the boilers; that is if we have a      200-pound pressure boiler it should stand up to a test of      1,000 pounds; five to one.'

Asked whether the government inspects engines and locomotives in general, he answered, 'Yes, by the United States inspector.' and that there was a standard to which locomotives must be built in order to pass inspection. Asked as to the type of the crown bolt permitted, he answered that either type is acceptable when properly applied. It is evident that this testimony, whatever might be its effect, is far from showing an approval by governmentinspectors of the use of the large type of button head upon an oil-burning engine.

Nor can we agree with the contention of the plaintiff in error that so long as the large button head had not been disapproved by the government inspector such fact is conclusive of the sufficiency of the type in use. We find nothing in the Boiler Inspection Act to warrant the conclusion that there is no liability for an unsafe locomotive, in view of the provisions of section 2 of the act, because some particular feature of construction, which has been found unsafe has not been disapproved by the federal boiler inspector.

Other errors are assigned, so far as they are open here we have examined these assignments and find in none of them reason for the reversal of the judgment of the Supreme Court of Washington, and that judgment is

Affirmed.