United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Osborne v. Gray, 241 U.S. 16 (1916)

Osborne v. Gray

No. 373

Argued April 3, 1916

Decided April 17, 1916

241 U.S. 16

Syllabus

In an action by representatives of an employee for his death, from negligence of an interstate carrier by rail, defendants are entitled to insist upon the applicable federal Law as the exclusive measure of liability, whether plaintiff presents his case under the federal or state law.

In the absence of a showing bringing the injury within the federal act, the question whether the declaration permits a recovery at common law is a state, and not a federal, question.

Where there is no evidence showing that the deceased was engaged in interstate commerce when killed, the court cannot supply the deficiency by taking judicial notice of that fact,basing its knowledge on facts such as that the location of the accident was near the border of the state and the direction from which the cars came.

An interstate carrier, defendant in an action for death of an employee, is bound to know the actual movement of its trains and whether they were interstate, and if it fails to inform the court on this point, it cannot complain that it is deprived of a federal right because the court does not take judicial notice of facts bearing thereon.

The facts, which involve the validity of a verdict under the Employers' Liability Act, are stated in the opinion.

Page 241 U. S. 18