HAROLD B. MOORE, APPELLANT,
v.
SEABOARD COAST LINE RAILROAD COMPANY, ETC., APPELLEE
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An employee of Seaboard Coast Line Railroad sued for injuries sustained when a railroad freight car door fell on him during debris clearing operations. The trial court erred by excluding from jury instructions the defendant's duty to provide adequate equipment and appliances, requiring reversal and a new trial.
The trial court committed reversible error by excluding from the jury instruction the defendant's duty to provide adequate equipment and appliances. Under the Federal Employers Liability Act and applicable precedent, a railroad owes employees a duty to furnish reasonably safe tools, instruments, and equipment, and the jury should have been instructed on this theory of liability.
[1] A railroad owes a duty to furnish reasonably safe tools, instruments, and equipment to its employees under the Federal Employers Liability Act.
[2] Failure to instruct a jury on a plaintiff's theory of liability based on the employer's failure to provide adequate equipment and appliances constitutes reversible error.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“a railroad owed the duty to furnish reasonably safe tools, instruments and equipment and that failure to do so rendered it liable to an employee under the federal act”
Establishes the legal duty owed by railroads to employees under FELA regarding equipment provision
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMoore was a switchman and yard conductor supervising a switch crew clearing debris from a derailment. While employees were loading a railroad freight …
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SPECTOR, Judge.
Appellant seeks review of a final judgment rendered in favor of appellee, which was defendant below, in an .action tried before a jury whereby he sought to recover damages for injuries he sustained during the course of his employment under the Federal Employers Liability Act.
Mr. Moore was a switchman and yard conductor in charge of a switch crew at the time of the accident from which his injuries arose. He and a group of fellow employees were in the process of clearing debris resulting from a derailment when a door to a railroad freight car, which was being loaded by hand into a boxcar, fell and severely injured him.
Appellant filed his complaint charging, inter alia, that the defendant was negligent in failing to furnish him with a safe place to work; the failure to supply necessary tools and equipment; and failure to supply a reasonable number of coemployees and assistants. Following settlement of the pleadings, trial was had which resulted in a jury verdict for defendant.
Three issues are raised by appellant for reversal. Only one has merit. The other two, failure to grant plaintiff’s motion for directed verdict at the conclusion of all evidence and refusing to give plaintiff’s requested instruction to the jury on the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, are without merit as relates to the facts of this case.
The remaining point raised was the trial court’s deletion from the jury instruction on the liability features of the case all references to the defendant’s duty to furnish and have available adequate equipment and appliances to do the work assigned to plaintiff and his fellow workers. Such deletion was done over objections of the plaintiff and was error. The evidence adduced at the trial indicated that boxcar doors were generally picked up and loaded by use of a derrick. A witness testified that in his long experience as a wrecker crewman he had never been called upon to load a door manually; that the normal procedure was to load a torn-off door by use of a derrick specially equipped with cables for safety.
By this and related evidence, appellant established the predicate for his request for inclusion in the instruction on liability a charge which informed the jury that, in addition to providing the plaintiff with a safe place to work and a reasonable number of employees to do the work, the defendant owed plaintiff a duty to provide adequate equipment and appliances with which to do the job assigned.
In the recent case of Foerman v. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad Company, 279 So. 2d 825 (Fla.1973), the court held that a railroad owed the duty to furnish reasonably safe tools, instruments and equipment and that failure to do so rendered it liable to an employee under the federal act. The jury should have had the benefit of the plaintiffs theory of liability based on failure to provide adequate equipment and appliances, and failure to so instruct the jury was reversible error requiring-a new trial.
Reversed.
BOYER and McCORD, JJ., concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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Seaboard Coast Line R.R. Co. v. Moore, 306 So. 2d 121 (Fla. 1974)…Certiorari denied. 291 So. 2d 656. ADKINS, C. J., and ROBERTS, ERVIN, BOYD and DEKLE, JJ., concur.…
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Ragsdell v. The S. Pac. Transp. Co., 688 F.2d 1281 (9th Cir. 1982)…n the general duty to use reasonable care. Other courts in FELA actions have held that failure to instruct a jury regarding an employer’s duty to provide a reasonably safe place to work is reversible error. See Moore v. Seaboard Coast Line Railroad, 291 So. 2d 656 (Fla. D.C. App. D1), cert. denied, 306 So. 2d 121 (Fla. 1974); Hohveger v. Great Northern Railway, 130 N.W. 2d 354, 269 Minn. 83 (1964). We agree that when the issue is properly raised and an instruction is requested, the FELA requires jury instruct…
Authorities Cited
- Foerman v. Seaboard Coast Line R.R. Co., 279 So. 2d 825 (Fla. 1973)