Elliott v. Felton

Citations

• 119 F. 270
• 56 C.C.A. 74
• 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4665

Syllabus

<p>1. State Court—Construction of Statute—What Constitutes—Binding Effect on Federal Court.</p> <p>Shannon’s Code Term. § 4025, provides that the right of action which a person who dies from injuries from another, or whose death is caused by the wrongful act, etc., of another, would have had against the wrongdoer in case death had not ensued, shall not abate or be extinguished by his death, but shall pass to his widow, etc. Sections 4026-4028 authorize the personal representative or widow to sue, and provide that, if the deceased has sued, the action may proceed after his death without revivor. Section 4029, being an amendment to the original act, provides that the party suing may recover for the suffering, loss of time, etc., resulting to the deceased, and also the damages resulting to the parties for whose use and’ benefit the right of action survives. The supreme court of Tennessee has held, notwithstanding section 4029, that this statute does not create a new liability, but merely continues decedent’s cause'of action by abrogating the common-law rule abating personal actions on the death of the plaintiff. Held that, as the liability is not created, but merely preserved, by statute, a decision of the supreme court of Tennessee, in an action for wrongful death, that the conductor of a railroad train was a vice principal, and. not a fellow servant towards the brakeman, did not define a statutory liability so as to be binding on the federal courts as a construction of a state statute.</p> <p>f 1. State laws as rules of decision in federal courts, see notes to Griffin v. Wheel Co., 9 C. C. A. 548; Wilson v. Perrin, 11 C. C. A. 71; Hill v. Hite, 29 C. C. A. 553.</p>