Stewart v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co., 168 U.S. 445 (1897)

168 U.S.
445
18 S.Ct. 105
42 L.Ed. 537
STEWART
v.
BALTIMORE & O. R. CO.
No. 97.
December 6, 1897.
On October 22, 1894, plaintiff in error, as plaintiff, filed in the supreme

court of the District of Columbia an amended declaration, containing two
counts. The first alleged that John Andrew Casey, plaintiff's intestate, was
killed through the negligence of the defendant company, in the state of
Maryland; that said intestate left surviving no parent or child, but only his
wife, Alice Triplett Casey, for whose benefit this action was brought. The
second count set forth, in addition to the matters disclosed in the first, a
statute of the state of Maryland in respect to recovery in such cases. A
demurrer to this declaration was sustained, and judgment entered for
defendant. This was affirmed by the court of appeals of the District of
Columbia (6 App. D. C. 56), and from such judgment of affirmance
plaintiff has brought the case here on error.
The statute in force in the District of Columbia (23 Stat. 307) provides for
recovery in case the act causing death is done within the limits of the
District of Columbia; that 'the person who or corporation which would
have been liable if death had not ensued shall be liable to an action for
damages for such death, notwithstanding the death of the person injured';
that the recovery shall not exceed $10,000; that the action shall be brought
in the name of the personal representative of the deceased, and within one
year after his death; and that the damages recovered shall not be
appropriated to the payment of the debts of the deceased, but inure to the
benefit of his or her family, and be distributed according to the provisions
of the statute of distributions. The Maryland statute which is copied in the
declaration (Rev. Code Md. 1878, p. 724) provides, in the first section,
that whenever the death of a person shall be caused by the wrongful act,
negligence, etc., of another, 'the person who would have been liable if
death had not ensued, shall be liable to an action for damages.' Section 2
and 3 are as follows:

'Sec. 2. Every such action shall be for the benefit of the wife, husband,
parent and child of the person whose death shall have been so caused, and
shall be brought by and in the name of the state of Maryland, for the use
of the person entitled to damages, and in every such action the jury may
give such damages as they may think proportioned to the injury resulting
from such death to the parties respectively for whom and for whose
benefit such action shall be brought, and the amount so recovered, after
deducting the costs not recovered from the defendant, shall be divided
amongst the above-mentioned parties, in such shares as the jury by their
verdict shall find and direct: provided, that not more than one action shall
lie for and in respect of the same subject-matter of complaint; and that
every such action shall be commenced within twelve calendar months
after the death of the deceased person.
'Sec. 3. In every such action, the equitable plaintiff on the record shall be
required, together with the declaration, to deliver to the defendant, or his
attorney, a full particular of the persons for whom and on whose behalf
such action shall be brought, and of the nature of the claim in respect of
which damages shall be sought to be recovered.'
Edwin Sutherland, for plaintiff in error.
George E. Hamilton, for defendant in error.
Mr. Justice BREWER, after stating the facts in the foregoing language,
delivered the opinion of the court.
The court of appeals was of opinion that the action could not be maintained
under the statute of the District of Columbia, because that authorizes recovery
only in case the injury causing death is done within the limits of the District,
nor under the Maryland statute, because of the peculiar form of remedy
prescribed therein; citing, in support of the latter contention, Pollard v. Bailey,
20 Wall. 520. A statute of Alabama made stockholders of a bank individually
liable for its debts, and, according to the construction given to it by the supreme
court of the state, the remedy provided was a suit in equity, whereas in that case
a single creditor had sued one of the stockholders in an action at law; and, in
denying the right to maintain such action, this court observed (page 526):
'The individual liability of stockholders in a corporation for the payment of its

debts is always a creature of statute. At common law it does not exist. The
statute which creates it may also declare the purposes of its creation, and
provide for the manner of its enforcement. * * * The liability and the remedy
were created by the same statute. This being so, the remedy provided is
exclusive of all others. A general liability created by statute without a remedy
may be enforced by an appropriate common-law action. But, where the
provision for the liability is coupled with a provision for a special remedy, that
remedy, and that alone, must be employed.'
3
To like effect was cited Bank v. Francklyn, 120 U. S. 747, 7 Sup. Ct. 757. The
court of appeals was of opinion that the statute in Maryland not only created a
statutory liability, but prescribed a particular remedy, and that no action could
be maintained, either in Maryland or elsewhere, unless that special remedy was
pursued.
Notwithstanding the ability with which the arguments in support of this

conclusion are presented in the opinion of the court of appeals, we are unable to
concur therein. A negligent act causing death is in itself a tort, and, were it not
for the rule founded on the maxim, 'Actio personalis moritur cum persona,'
damages therefor could have been recovered in an action at common law. The
case differs in this important feature from those in which a penalty is imposed
for an act in itself not wrongful, in which a purely statutory delict is created.
The purpose of the several statutes passed in the states, in more or less
conformity to what is known as 'Lord Campbell's Act,' is to provide the means
for recovering the damages caused by that which is essentially and in its nature
a tort. Such statutes are not penal, but remedial, for the benefit of the persons
injured by the death. An action to recover damages for a tort is not local, but
transitory, and can, as a general rule, be maintained wherever the wrongdoer
can be found. Dennick v. Railroad Co., 103 U. S. 11. It may well be that, where
a purely statutory right is created, the special remedy provided by the statute
for the enforcement of that right must be pursued; but, where the statute simply
takes away a common-law obstacle to a recovery for an admitted tort, it would
seem not unreasonable to hold that an action for that tort can be maintained in
any state in which that common-law obstacle has been removed. At least, it has
been held by this court in repeated cases that an action for such a tort can be
maintained 'where the statute of the state in which the cause of action arose is
not, in substance, inconsistent with the statutes or public policy of the state in
which the right of action is sought to be enforced.' Railroad Co. v. Cox, 145 U.
S. 593, 605, 12 Sup. Ct. 905. See, also, Dennick v. Railroad Co., 103 U. S. 11;
Huntington v. Attrill, 146 U. S. 657, 13 Sup. Ct. 224; Railroad Co. v. Babcock,
154 U. S. 190, 14 Sup. Ct. 978.
What are the differences between the two statutes? As heretofore noticed, the
substantial purpose of these various statutes is to do away with the obstacle to a

recovery caused by the death of the party injured. Both statutes in the case at
bar disclose that purpose. By each the death of the party injured ceases to
relieve the wrongdoer from liability for damages caused by the death, and this
is its main purpose and effect. The two statutes differ as to the party in whose
name the suit is to be brought. In Maryland the plaintiff is the state; in this
district, the personal representative of the deceased. But neither the state in the
one case nor the personal representative in the other has any pecuniary interest
in the recovery. Each is simply a nominal plaintiff. While in the district the
nominal plaintiff is the personal representative of the deceased, the damages
recovered do not become part of the assets of the estate, or liable for the debts
of the deceased, but are distributed among certain of his heirs. By neither
statute is there any thought of increasing the volume of the deceased's estate,
but in each it is the award to certain prescribed heirs of the damages resulting to
them from the taking away of their relative.
6
For purposes of jurisdiction in the federal courts, regard is had to the real, rather
than to the nominal, party. Brown v. Strode, 5 Cranch, 303; McNutt v. Bland, 2
How. 9; Maryland v. Baldwin, 112 U. S. 490, 5 Sup. Ct. 278. See, also, Gaither
v. Bank, 1 Pet. 37, 42, in which the issue submitted to the jury was, as stated,
one between the bank to the use of Thomas Corcorran, plaintiff, and Gaither,
the defendant, upon which the court said: 'This practice is familiar with the
Maryland courts, and, when the action originates in that form, the cestui que
use is regarded as the real party to the suit.' It is true those were actions on
contract, and this is an action for a tort; but still in such an action it is evident
that the real party in interest is not the nominal plaintiff, but the party for whose
benefit the recovery is sought; and the courts of either jurisdiction will see that
the damages awarded pass to such party.
Another difference is that by the Maryland statute the jury trying the cause
apportion the damages awarded between the parties for whose benefit the
action is brought, while by the statute of the District the distribution is made
according to the ordinary laws of distribution of a decedent's estate. But by each
the important matter is the award of damages, and the manner of distribution is
a minor consideration. Besides, in determining the amount of the recovery, the
jury must necessarily consider the damages which each beneficiary has
sustained by reason of the death. By neither statute is a fixed sum to be given
as a penalty for the wrong, but in each the question is the amount of damages. It
is true that the beneficiaries of such an action may not in every case be exactly
the same under each statute, but the principal beneficiaries under each are the
near relatives,those most likely to be dependent on the party killed; and the
remote relatives can seldom, if ever, be regarded as suffering loss from the
death.
8
We cannot think that these differences are sufficient to render the statute of
Maryland, in substance, inconsistent with the statute or public policy of the
District of Columbia; and so, within the rule heretofore announced in this court,
it must be held that the plaintiff was entitled to maintain this action in the
courts of the District for the benefit of the persons designated in the statute of
Maryland. The judgment will be reversed, and the case remanded for a trial
upon the merits.

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168 U.S.

On October 22, 1894, plaintiff in error, as plaintiff, filed in the supreme

and 3 are as follows:

'The individual liability of stockholders in a corporation for the payment of its

Notwithstanding the ability with which the arguments in support of this

substantial purpose of these various statutes is to do away with the obstacle to a

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