Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern R. Co. v. Carroll, 280 U.S. 491 (1930)

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Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern R. Co. v. Carroll

No. 87

Argued January 15, 1930
Decided February 24, 1930
280 U.S. 491

CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIANA

Syllabus

1. Where the plaintiff in an action in damages for personal injuries dies pending an appeal from a judgment in his favor, the judgment subsequently being reversed and remanded by this Court for a new trial on the ground that the federal Employers’ Liability Act, and not state law, was applicable, an amendment of the complaint by the administrator so as to include a claim for damages on account of the death introduces a new cause of action, and cannot be allowed if the two-year period of limitation has already run against that cause of action. P. 494.

2. Under the federal Employers’ Liability Act, the cause of action which arises from death accrues, and the two-year period of limitations begins to run at the time of the death. P. 495.

3. A judgment based on a verdict awarding a single sum as damages upon two causes of action, one for personal injuries and the other for death resulting therefrom, must be reversed if one of the causes of action was erroneously allowed to go to the jury, and must be sent back for retrial on the other cause of action. P. 495.

4. The duty of the employer to provide a safe place to work and safe working appliances is not absolute; he is held only to the exercise of reasonable care to that end. P. 496.

200 Ind. 589 reversed.

Certiorari, post, p. 537, to review a judgment of the Supreme Court of Indiana which affirmed a judgment against the Railroad Company in an action under the federal Employers’ Liability Act.