Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railroad v. Burtch

Background

Guerney O. Burtch sued a railroad company after he was hurt while helping to unload a heavy ensilage cutter from a freight car at Commiskey, Indiana. The complaint said he was an employee and the work was intrastate; the railroad argued the shipment was interstate. The trial court applied state law, a jury found for Burtch, and the State Supreme Court affirmed; after review was allowed Burtch died and his administratrix continued the case.

Reasoning

The central question was whether federal law for railroad employee injuries applied because the shipment was interstate and Burtch was acting as an employee. Testimony said the cutter was shipped from a Louisville warehouse and the bill of lading ran from Louisville to Commiskey, and a telegraph operator said the train came from Louisville with the cutter aboard. The Court held unloading an interstate shipment is part of interstate transportation and that Burtch, who assisted at the conductor's request under a long-standing practice, was acting as an employee. Therefore the Federal Employers' Liability Act governed, and the state-court judgment was reversed and sent back for further proceedings under that federal law.

Real world impact

This decision means people injured while unloading interstate freight can be covered by federal railroad negligence law, which may limit some state defenses and change how such injury claims are tried. The case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with this ruling. It also directs lower courts to apply federal standards on liability and damages in similar cases.