Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Bond, 240 U.S. 449 (1916)

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company v. Bond

No. 486

Argued February 23, 1916
Decided March 20, 1916
240 U.S. 449

ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT

OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA

Syllabus

One who is not an employee of an interstate carrier, but an independent contractor, cannot recover, nor can his representative, under the Employers’ Liability Act, even if killed or injured while engaged in services in interstate commerce.

Although a certain direction or information may be given by the carrier to one contracting with it, if, as in this case, the contract is not the engagement of a servant submitting to subordination and subject momentarily to superintendence, but of one capable of independent action to be judged by its results, and the person so contracting controls the manner of the work done by himself and those employed by him, he is a contractor with, and not an employ of, the carrier within the meaning of the Employers’ Liability Act.

A contract to shovel coal on a per ton basis, and with provisions assuming all risk and liability for injury to, or for death of, himself and persons employed by him, between an interstate carrier and an independent employer of labor who had other contracts for work with the same carrier and with other companies, held not to be an evasion of the provision of § 5 of the Employers’ Liability Act, that any contract or device for exemption of the carrier’s liability under the act shall be void.

The facts, which involve the application and construction of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act and the validity of a judgment in an action thereunder, are stated in the opinion.