Jacobs v. Southern Railway Co.

Background

A railroad fireman working in a Virginia yard tried to board a slowly moving locomotive carrying a small can of water. He tripped on a long-standing pile of cinders placed beside the rail, fell under the engine, and was injured. He sued the railroad under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act for negligence; after one trial for the worker and a reversal, a second trial resulted in a verdict for the railroad and judgment for the company.

Reasoning

The central question was whether the worker’s knowledge of the cinder pile prevented him from recovering under the federal law. The Court explained that the law removes the “assumption of risk” defense only when the carrier violated a safety statute; in other situations the defense remains. The Court reviewed the evidence that the piles had been there for years, that the worker knew of them, and that boarding moving engines in that yard was customary. The Court concluded the worker was chargeable with assumed risk under the established rule and that he had not preserved a more specific objection about whether he appreciated the danger. The Court therefore affirmed the railroad’s victory.

Real world impact

The ruling means that railroad employees who knowingly expose themselves to longstanding, obvious track hazards may be barred from recovery unless the employer violated a specific safety statute. Workers are encouraged to report or object to dangerous conditions to protect legal rights; employers remain liable when they breach safety laws, but ordinary known hazards may still be treated as assumed risks under the Act.