Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

Camden & Suburban Railway Co. v. Stetson

Camden & Suburban Ry. Co. v. Stetson, 177 U.S. 172 (1900)

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1900-04-09
Topic
general

How later courts describe this case

  • Botsford does not suggest statute authorizing examination would violate United States Constitution
  • applying state rule permitting physical examination of a plaintiff

Citator

UpLaw has not yet analyzed Camden & Suburban Railway Co. v. Stetson. The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.

Authority status
pending
Cited by
61 opinions

Headnotes

  1. Evidence — Physical Examination of Plaintiff — Common Law Power A court has no inherent power at common law to order a plaintiff in a personal injury action to submit to a surgical examination against his will; such an order may be made only pursuant to statutory authority. 177 U.S. at 178 (citing Union Pacific Railway v. Botsford, 141 U.S. 250)
  2. Federal Courts & Jurisdiction — Rules of Decision Act — State Law in Diversity Actions Under section 721 of the Revised Statutes, the laws of the several states, except where the Constitution, treaties, or statutes of the United States otherwise require or provide, are the rules of decision in trials at common law in the federal courts in cases to which they apply; a state statute governing the evidence admissible in personal injury actions is a local rule of decision that binds federal courts sitting in that state where no federal law is in conflict. 177 U.S. at 178–179
  3. Evidence — Physical Examination of Plaintiff — Prosecution of Action in Federal Court A state statute authorizing a court, on application of a party, to order a surgical examination of a person injured in order to qualify the examiner to testify as to the nature, extent, and probable duration of the injury applies in an action at common law tried in a federal court sitting in that state, and the federal court has the legal right and power to order the examination. 177 U.S. at 178–180
  4. Federal Courts & Jurisdiction — Conflict Between State and Federal Statutes — Evidence A state statute permitting a surgical examination of an injured plaintiff does not conflict with the federal statutes governing the examination of witnesses in open court, because any information obtained by the examining surgeon may be used only by producing and examining the physician in open court or by deposition, and it is therefore not rendered inapplicable in federal courts under the reasoning of Ex parte Fisk. 177 U.S. at 179–180
  5. Constitutional Law — Due Process A state statute authorizing a court to order the surgical examination of a plaintiff in an action to recover damages for personal injury does not infringe the constitutional rights of the party and is within the power of the legislature. 177 U.S. at 179–180 (citing McGovern v. Hope, 63 N.J. Law; Lyon v. Manhattan Railway Co., 42 N.Y. 298)
  6. Federal Courts & Jurisdiction — Diversity of Citizenship — Time of Injury Immaterial The citizenship of the plaintiff at the time of the injury is immaterial, so long as the court has jurisdiction of the case and the parties at the time the action is commenced. 177 U.S. at 180
CAMDEN AND SUBURBAN RY. CO.v. STETSON,177 U.S. 172(1900)
20 S.Ct. 617
CAMDEN AND SUBURBAN RAILWAY COMPANYv. STETSON.
CERTIFICATE FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT.
No. 174.
Argued March 6, 1900.
Decided April 9, 1900.
This was an action brought in the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of New Jersey against a railway company, for an alleged injury to the plaintiff, caused by the neglect of the railway company while the plaintiff was a passenger on one of its cars.Heldthat that court had the legal right or power, under the statute of New Jersey and the United States Revised Statutes, to order a surgical examination of the plaintiff.
THIS case came here upon a certificate from the Circuit Court
of Appeals for the Third Circuit, under the act of March 3, 1891,
c. 517, § 6,26 Stat. 826. The action was brought in the Circuit
Court of the United States for the District of New Jersey by the
plaintiff against the railway company to recover damages for an
alleged injury to his person caused by the neglect of the
defendant while the plaintiff was a passenger on one of
defendant's cars. At the time that he brought suit plaintiff was
a citizen of the State of Pennsylvania, the railway company being
a corporation of the State of New Jersey. The alleged neglect and
injury occurred on the 13th day of July, 1896, in the city of
Camden in the State of New Jersey, and at that time the plaintiff
was a citizen of that State.
On the 12th of May, 1896, the legislature of New Jersey passed
and the governor approved an act (c. 202, p. 344) which reads as
follows:
"1. On or before the trial of any action brought to recover
damages for injury to the person, the court before whom such
action is pending may, from time to time on application of any
party therein, order and direct an examination of the person
injured, as to the injury complained of, by a competent physician
or physicians, surgeon or surgeons, in order to qualify the
person or persons making such examination, to testify in the said
cause
Page 173
as to the nature, extent and probable duration of the injury
complained of; and the court may in such order direct and
determine the time and place of such examination; provided, this
act shall not be construed to prevent any other person or
physician from being called and examined as a witness as
heretofore."
When the case was called for trial on March 31, 1898, and
after a jury had been impaneled, but before the case was opened
to the jury, the defendant's counsel asked in open court that the
plaintiff should submit himself to examination by a competent
surgeon. The plaintiff would not consent, and the court held that
it had no power to order the plaintiff to subject himself to
examination by physicians against his will, and it therefore
refused to make the order asked for by counsel for the defendant,
who was thereupon allowed an exception to the ruling. The trial
proceeded and resulted in a verdict and judgment for the
plaintiff. The defendant brought the case by writ of error before
the Circuit Court of Appeals, and that court desiring the
instruction of this court upon the matter made the foregoing
statement and ordered the following questions to be certified
here:
"1. Is the above-recited statute of the State of New Jersey,
the act of May 12, 1896, applicable to an action to recover
damages for injury to the person brought and tried in the Circuit
Court of the United States for the District of New Jersey?
"2. Is said statute applicable to an action to recover damages
for injury to the person brought and tried in the Circuit Court
of the United States for the District of New Jersey, where the
injury occurred in the State of New Jersey, and both the
plaintiff and the defendant at the time of the injury were
citizens of that State?
"3. Had the Circuit Court the legal right or power to order a
surgical examination of the plaintiff?"
Mr. E.A. ArmstrongandMr. David J. Pancoastfor plaintiff in error.Mr. Howard Carrowfor defendant in error.Page 174
MR. JUSTICE PECKHAM, after stating the facts, delivered the opinion of the court.
An answer to the third question, "Had the Circuit Court the legal right or power to order a surgical examination of the plaintiff," will be all that is necessary for the action of the court below.

It is settled in this court that no power to make such an order exists at common law; in other words, the court has no inherent power to make it.Union Pacific Railwayv.Botsford,141 U.S. 250. In that case there was no statute of the State in which the United States court was held which authorized the order. There is no intimation in the opinion that a statute of a State directly authorizing such examination would be a violation of the Federal Constitution, or invalid for any other reason.

In this case we have such a statute, and by section 721 of the Revised Statutes of the United States it is provided that "the laws of the several States, except where the Constitution, treaties or statutes of the United States otherwise require or provide, shall be regarded as rules of decision in trials at common law in courts of the United States, in cases in which they apply."

Does not this statute of the State apply in trials at common law in the United States courts sitting in the State where the statute exists?

The case before us is a common law action; it is one to recover damages for a tort, which is an action of that nature. It was being tried in the State which enacted the statute, and the court was asked to apply such statute to the trial of an action at common law.

Neither the Constitution, treaties nor statutes of the United States otherwise require or provide. The statute concerns the evidence which may be given on a trial in New Jersey, and it does not conflict with any statute of the United States upon that subject. It is not a question of a general nature, like the law merchant, but simply one concerning evidence based upon a local statute applicable to actions brought within the State to recover damages for injury to the person. The statute comesPage 175within the principle of the decisions of this court holding a law of the State of such a nature binding upon Federal courts sitting within the State.Swiftv.Tyson, 16 Pet. 1, 18;Nicholsv.Levy, Wall. 433;Watsonv.Tarpley, 18 How. 517, 520;Exparte Fisk,113 U.S. 713.

It was held inUnited Statesv.Reid, 12 How. 361, that the provision of the law of Congress did not extend to criminal offences against the United States, for that would be to give to the States the power of prescribing the rules of evidence in trials for offences against the United States. It was said, however, that the section was intended to confer upon the courts of the United States the jurisdiction necessary to enable them to administer the laws of the States.

We are not aware of any reason why this law of the State does not apply to courts of the United States under the section of the Revised Statutes above quoted. There is no claim made that the statute violates the Federal Constitution, and we are of opinion that such a claim would have no foundation, if made.

Counsel for the plaintiff refers in his argument to the opinion in theBotsford case, where it is stated (at page 256) that the question is one which is not governed by the law or practice of the State in which the trial is had, but that it depends upon the power of the national courts under the Constitution and laws of the United States, and he argues therefrom that the state statute is immaterial, and can furnish no foundation for the exercise of the power by the Federal court. We do not dispute that if there were no law of the United States which, in connection with the state law, could be referred to as in effect providing for the exercise of the power, the court could not grant the order under the decision in the case ofBotsford. But we say there is a law of the United States which does apply the laws of the State where the United States court sits, and where the State has a law which provides for the making of an order for the examination of the person of a plaintiff in a case like this, the law of the United States applies that law to cases of such a nature on trial in Federal courts sitting in that State. In theBotsford casethere was no state law, and consequently no foundation for the application of the law of the United States.Page 176

InEx parte Fisk,113 U.S. 713, the statute of the State of New York, in relation to the examination of parties before trial, was held to be in conflict with the act of Congress providing for the examination of witnesses in courts of the United States, and was, therefore, inapplicable in those courts; but the statute in this case is not in conflict with any statute of the United States. It does not conflict with section 861 of the Revised Statutes, providing for the oral examination of witnesses in open court. On the contrary, whatever information may be obtained by the surgeon who examines the plaintiff under the statute in question can be availed of only by the defendant's producing the witness and examining him in open court, or by deposition, if he come within the exception mentioned in section 863 and the following sections.

The validity of this statute has been affirmed by the Supreme Court of New Jersey inMcGovernv.Hope, 42 A. 830; to appear in 63 N.J. Law. The opinion of the court was delivered by Mr. Justice Depue and the court held that the act was within the power of the legislature, and was not an infringement upon the constitutional rights of the party.

The validity of a statute of this nature has also been upheld inLyonv.Manhattan Railway Company,42 N.Y. 298, although the particular form of that statute would probably be regarded as conflicting with the law of Congress in relation to the examination of a party as a witness before trial, and hence might not be enforced in courts of the United States sitting within the State of New York, but the validity of a statute providing for the examination of the person of a plaintiff in an action to recover for injuries is upheld and declared not to be in violation of the constitutional rights of the party.

The citizenship of the plaintiff at the time of the injury is not material so long as the court below has jurisdiction of the case and the parties at the time of the commencement of the action.

In those States in which it has been held that the court has inherent power to order the examination of a plaintiff in this class of action without the aid of a statute, all has been said that could be urged in favor of such power on grounds connected with public policy and the due and proper administration ofPage 177justice by the courts. This court has taken another view of the subject, in the decision ofBotsford's case, above cited. But by reason of the statute of New Jersey, in which State this action was brought, there being no law of Congress in conflict therewith, we hold that the courts of the United States therein sitting have the power under the statute and by virtue of section 721 of the Revised Statutes of the United States to order the examination of the person of the plaintiff, and we, therefore, answer the third question of the court below in the affirmative, andIt will be so certified.

MR. JUSTICE HARLAN dissented.