LAWS REGULATING LIABILITY OF EMPLOYERS FOR INJURIES TO EMPLOYEES.

Mr. BURKETT presented the following

COMPILATION OF THE LAWS OF THE STATES, TERRITORIES, AND UNITED STATES REGULATING THE LIABILITY OF EMPLOYERS FOR INJURIES TO EMPLOYEES. PREPARED BY THE UNITED STATES BUREAU OF LABOR.

JANUARY 28, 1908.-Ordered to be printed.

LAWS OF THE STATES, TERRITORIES, AND UNITED STATES
REGULATING THE LIABILITY OF EMPLOYERS FOR INJURIES
TO EMPLOYEES.

[Prepared by the U. S. Bureau of Labor.

ALABAMA.

CODE OF 1897, CIVIL CODE.

Liability of employers for injuries to employees.

SECTION 1749. When a personal injury is received by Injury caused a servant or employee in the service or business of the master or employer, the master or employer is liable to answer in damages to such servant or employee, as if he were a stranger, and not engaged in such service or employment, in the cases following:

1. When the injury is caused by reason of any defect Defects. in the condition of the ways, works, machinery, or plant connected with, or used in the business of the master or employer.

superintendent.

2. When the injury is caused by reason of the negli- Negligence gence of any person in the service or employment of the master or employer, who has any superintendence intrusted to him, whilst in the exercise of such superintendence.

thority.

of

3. When such injury is caused by reason of the negli- Or one in augence of any person in the service or employment of the master or employer, to whose orders or directions the servant or employee, at the time of the injury, was bound to conform, and did econform, if such injuries resulted from his having so conformed.

to rules or instructions.

Obedience 4. When such injury'is caused by reason of the act or omission of any person in the service or employment of the master or employer, done or made in obedience to the rules and regulations or by-laws of the master or employer, or in obedience to particular instructions given by any person delegated with the authority of the master or employer in that behalf.

Negligence of person in

Exceptions.

5. When such injury is caused by reason of the neglicharge of rail-gence of any person in the service or employment of the road signal, etc. master or employer, who has the charge or control of any signal, points, locomotive, engine, switch, car, or train upon a railway, or of any part of the track of a railway. But the master or employer is not liable under this section, if the servant or employee knew of the defect or negligence causing the injury, and failed in a reasonable time to give information thereof to the master or employer, or to some person superior to himself engaged in the service or employment of the master or employer, unless he was aware that the master or employer, or such superior already knew of such defect or negligence; nor is the master or employer liable under subdivision 1, unless the defect therein mentioned arose from, or had not been discovered or remedied owing to the negligence of the master or employer, or of some person in the service of the master or employer, and intrusted by him with the duty of seeing that the ways, works, machinery, or plant, were in proper condition.

In order for recovery there must be actual employment; volunteer service or service outside the line of duty is not protected. (85 Ala., 203.)

Liability is based on the fact of employment and not on contract, and can not be avoided by a contract or rule attempting to place the risk on the employee. (97 Ala., 126.)

The statute does not apply to known risks and dangers of the service against which human skill and caution can not provide, nor to accidents incident to the business. (94 Ala., 199.)

This section does not abrogate the defense of contributory negligence; a negligent employee can not recover under its provisions. (8 So. Rep., 357.)

But if a fellow-servant acted so recklessly or wantonly as to raise the imputation of a willful or intentional injury, with knowledge that injury would probably result from his conduct, contributory negligence is not a defense. (85 Ala., 269.)

Injury alone does not raise a presumption of negligence. (97 Ala., 171.)

Causal connection must be shown between negligence and injury. (91 Ala., 496.)

Jury may infer such connection from circumstances. (95 Ala., 397.) Damages recoverable are compensatory and not punitive, and do not include exemplary damages or damages for pain, suffering, or loss of society. (91 Ala., 548.)

The employee must have notice or knowledge of rules to make their violation contributory negligence. (112 Ala., 216.)

Custom and practice can not justify negligence. (94 Ala., 277.)
But employer may acquiesce in breach of rule. (100 Ala., 232.)
Or waive its observance by inconsistent requirements. (111 Ala.,
275.)

A defect in ways must be of an inherent part; a movable object temporarily on the track is not within the statute. (110 Ala., 185.

Superintendence is not necessarily that exercised over the injured person, but if the negligence of a superintendent results in injury to any servant of the common master, the latter is liable. (97 Ala., 240.)

A superintendent put over a gang of laborers by a city can not be repudiated on the ground that his appointment was illegal when an employee brings action for injuries received through the superintendent's negligence. (14 So. Rep., 357.)

The provisions of subsection 5 do not apply to the engineer of a stationary engine moving cars in a mine by the use of a cable and a drum. (26 So. Rep., 124.)

empt.

SEC. 1750. Damages recovered by the servant or em- Damages exployee, of and from the master or employer, are not subject to the payment of debts, or any legal liabilities incurred by him.

death.

SEC. 1751. If such injury results in the death of the Injury causing servant or employee, his personal representative is entitled to maintain an action therefor, and the damages recovered are not subject to the payment of debts or liabilities, but shall be distributed according to the statute of distributions.

When the injury results in death, no one but the personal representative can sue. (83 Ala., 493.)

Damages are recoverable if injury was a contributing cause of death. (91 Ala., 496.)

If deceased left no next of kin, only nominal damages will be awarded. (92 Ala., 231.)

That the deceased was a minor makes no difference under this statute. (90 Ala., 13.)

ARIZONA.

REVISED STATUTES OF 1901.

CIVIL CODE.

Acts of fellow-servants.

corporations li

SEC. 2767. Every corporation doing business in the Employing Territory of Arizona shall be liable for all damages done able. to any employee in consequence of any negligence of its agents or employees to any person sustaining such damage: Provided, Such corporation has had previous notice of the incompetency, carelessness, or negligence of such agent or employee.

ARKANSAS.

DIGEST OF STATUTES, 1904.

Fellow-servants-Railroad companies.

SEC. 6658. All persons engaged in the service of any railway corporations, foreign or domestic, doing business in this State, who are intrusted by such corporation with the authority of superintendence, control, or command of other persons in the employ or service of such corporation, or with the authority to direct any other employee, in the performance of any duty of such employee, are vice-principals of such corporation and are not fellowservants with such employee.

Vice-principal

defined.

Fellow-s er v. ants.

Contracts limiting liability.

Injury caused by negligence of

Employer.

SEC. 6659. All persons who are engaged in the common service of such railway corporations, and who, while so engaged, are working together to a common purpose, of same grade, neither of such persons being intrusted by such corporations with any superintendence or control over their fellow-employees, are fellow-servants with each other: Provided, Nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to make employees of such corporation in the service of such corporation fellow-servants with other employees of such corporation engaged in any other department or service of such corporation. Employees who do not come within the provisions of this section shall not be considered fellow-servants.

SEC. 6660. No contract made between the employer and employee based upon the contingency of the injury or death of the employee limiting the liability of the employer under this act, or fixing damages to be recovered, shall be valid and binding.

The effect of these sections is to limit the risk assumed by an employee, on account of the acts or omissions of persons in the service of the same employer, to the neglect of those who are fellow-servants within the meaning of the statute, and to render the employer liable for injuries occasioned by the negligence of all other fellow-employees in the discharge of their duties. (53 S. W. Rep., 406.)

The authority that occasions liability is not merely one that may be assumed by a workman drawing larger pay or having slightly different duties, but must be actually intrusted to the vice-principal by the corporation. (85 Fed. Rep., 379.)

ACTS OF 1907.

CHAPTER 69.-Liability of employers for injuries to employees.

SEC. 1. All railroad companies operating within this State, whether incorporated or not, and all corporations of every kind and character, and every company whether incorporated or not, engaged in the mining of coal, who may employ agents, servants, or employees, such agents, servants, or employees being in the exercise of due care, shall be liable to respond in damages for injuries or death sustained by any such agent, employee, or servant resulting from the careless omission of duty or negligence of such employer, or which may result from the carelessness, omission of duty, or negligence of any other Fellow-s er v-agent, servant, or employee of the said employer, in the same manner and to the same extent as if the carelessness, omission of duty, or negligence causing the injury or death was that of the employer.

ant.

The law regulating the working of mines provides that a right of action for direct damages shall accrue to any party injured, or to his heirs if the injury results in death, where the injury is occasioned by a willful violation of the statute or a willful failure to comply with its provisions. (Dig. Stat., sec. 5350, amended by chap. 225, Acts of 1905.)

CALIFORNIA.

DEERING'S CODES AND STATUTES, 1885.

CIVIL CODE.

Liability of employers for injuries to employees.

risks.

SEC. 1970 (as amended by chapter 97, Acts of 1907). An employer is not bound to indemnify his employee for ordinary losses suffered by the latter in consequence of the ordinary risks of the business in which he is employed, nor in consequence of the negligence of another person employed by the same employer in the same general business, unless the negligence causing the injury was committed in the performance of a duty the employer owes by law to the employee, or unless the employer has neglected to use ordinary care in the selection of the culpable employee: Pro- superior vided, nevertheless, That the employer shall be liable for servants. such injury when the same results from the wrongful act, neglect, or default of any agent or officer of such employer, superior to the employee injured, or of a person employed by such employer having the right to control or direct the services of such employee injured, and also when such injury results from the wrongful act, neglect, or default of a coemployee engaged in another department of labor Other departfrom that of the employee injured or employed upon a machine, railroad train, switch signal point, locomotive engine, or other appliance than that upon which the employee is [sic] injured is employed, or who is charged with the dispatching trains, or transmitting telegraphic or telephonic orders upon any railroad or in the operation of any mine, factory, machine shop, or other industrial establishment.

ments, etc.

Knowledge by an employee injured of the defective or Knowledge. unsafe character or condition of any machinery, ways, appliances or structures of such employer shall not be a bar to recovery for any injury or death caused thereby, unless it shall also appear that such employee fully understood, comprehended, and appreciated the dangers incident to the use of such defective machinery, ways, appliances, or structures, and thereafter consented to use the same or continued in the use thereof.

When death, whether instantaneous or otherwise, re- Injuries caussults from an injury to an employee received as aforesaid, ing death. the personal representative of such employee shall have a right of action therefor against such employer, and may recover damages in respect thereof for and on behalf and for the benefit of the widow, children, dependent parents, and dependent brothers and sisters, in order of precedence as herein stated, but no more than one action shall be brought for such recovery.