Edwards v. Pacific Fruit Express Co.

The Federal Employers’ Liability Act provides that every common carrier by railroad engaged in interstate commerce shall be liable in damages for the injury or death of its employees resulting in whole or in part from the negligence of the railroad or its agents or resulting from defects in its equipment due to its negligence. The question in this case is whether the respondent Pacific Fruit Express Company is a “common carrier by railroad.”

The respondent is the largest company of its kind in the United States. It owns, maintains, and leases refrigerator cars to railroads to transport…