Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

Tipton v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co.

298 U.S. 141

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1936-04-27
Topic
general

How later courts describe this case

  • recognizing that the SAA “leave[s] the genesis and regulation of such action [for breach of the SAA] to the law of the states”
  • applying state law in federal court in a precursor case to Erie

Citator

UpLaw has not yet analyzed Tipton v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co.. The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.

Cited by
56 opinions

Headnotes

  1. Transportation Law — Federal Safety Appliance Acts — Nature of Remedy The Federal Safety Appliance Acts impose an absolute duty on carriers and supersede the common law duty of the employer, but, unlike the Federal Employers' Liability Act, they do not give a right of action for negligence; instead they leave the nature and incidents of the remedy to the law of the states, modifying enforcement of the employee's common law right only by withdrawing the defense of assumption of risk. 298 U.S. at 146
  2. General — Federal Safety Appliance Acts — Employee Engaged in Intrastate Transportation An employee injured by a violation of the Federal Safety Appliance Acts while engaged in intrastate transportation on a railroad that is a highway of interstate commerce may recover for breach of the duty imposed, but the safety acts remit the injured person to such remedy as the state law affords. 298 U.S. at 146-148 (citing Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Rigsby, 241 U.S. 33)
  3. Workers' Compensation & SSDI — Federal Safety Appliance Acts — State Remedial Power A state is at liberty to afford any appropriate remedy, including workmen's compensation, elective or compulsory, for breach of the duty imposed by the Federal Safety Appliance Acts, and the federal courts are as much bound as the state courts to conform to the remedial procedure the state has adopted. 298 U.S. at 148-149
  4. Workers' Compensation & SSDI — Exclusivity The California Workmen's Compensation Act substitutes a new system of rights and obligations for the common law rules governing employer liability, and where its specified conditions exist its remedy is exclusive of all other statutory or common law remedies; by its terms it embraces injuries to an employee engaged in intrastate transportation on a highway of interstate commerce arising from a violation of the Federal Safety Appliance Acts. 298 U.S. at 152-154
  5. Federal Courts & Jurisdiction — Construction of State Statutes A state court's construction of a state statute that stems from an erroneous conception of federal statutes is not binding on the federal courts, which must disregard such a construction and independently determine the proper scope of the state law. 298 U.S. at 151-152