Baltimore & Ohio S.W. R. Co. v. Burtch, 263 U.S. 540 (1924)

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Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad Company v. Burtch

No. 115

Argued December 3, 4, 1923
Decided January 7, 1924
263 U.S. 540

CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT

OF THE STATE OF INDIANA

Syllabus

1. In determining whether a case appealed from a state court should have been governed by the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, uncontradicted evidence establishing the interstate character of a shipment must prevail here over the special findings and general verdict of the jury. P. 543.

2. Authority of the conductor of a freight train to employ a bystander to assist in unloading heavy freight may be derived from custom and the exigency of the occasion. P. 543.

3. The unloading at destination of an interstate shipment by employees of the carrier is so closely related to interstate commerce a to be practically a part of it. P. 544. Shanks v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R. Co., 239 U.S. 556.

4. The liability of an interstate carrier for an accident suffered by a part owner of a heavy article of freight while assisting, as the carrier’s employee, in unloading it from the car, was not affected by the existence of a rule filed by the carrier with the Interstate Commerce Commission requiring owners of such articles, under stated condition, to unload them, since the rule did not affect the relations between the carrier and it employees, but must be observed only to prevent discrimination among shippers, and failure to enforce it was no part of the cause, but was merely an attendant circumstance, of the accident. P. 544.

134 N.E. 858 reversed.

Certiorari to a judgment of the Supreme Court of Indiana affirming a judgment, for personal injuries, recovered by the respondent’s intestate in an action against the petitioner.