Rogers v. Missouri Pacific Railroad

A jury in the Circuit Court of St. Louis awarded damages to the petitioner in this action under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act. 1 The Supreme Court of Missouri reversed upon the ground that the petitioner’s evidence did not support the finding of respondent’s liability. 2 This Court granted certiorari to consider the question whether the decision invaded the jury’s function. 3

Petitioner was a laborer in a section gang, working on July 17,1951, along a portion of respondent’s double-track line which, near Garner, Arkansas, runs generally north and south. The tracks are on ballast topping…