Dice v. Akron, Canton & Youngstown Railroad Co. (342 U.S. 359)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 4, 1952 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 342 U.S. 359 · 72 S. Ct. 312
- Docket
- No. 374
- Argued
- January 7, 1952
- Decided
- February 4, 1952
- Term
- October Term 1951
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Black
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Minton, Justice Clark, Justice Douglas, Justice Black (wrote)
- Concurring in the judgment
- Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Reed
Opinion excerpt
Opinion of the Court by Mr. Justice Black, announced by Mr. Justice Douglas. Petitioner, a railroad fireman, was seriously injured when an engine in which he was riding jumped tjie track. Alleging that his injuries were due to respondent’s negligence, he brought this action for damages under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, 35 Stat. 65, 45 U. S. C. § 51 et seq., in an Ohio court of common pleas. Respondent’s defenses were (1) a denial of negligence and (2) a written document signed by petitioner purporting to release respondent in full for $924.63. Petitioner admitted that he had signed several receipts for payments made him in connection witfijiis injuries but denied that he had made a full and complete settlement of all his claims. He alleged that the purported release was void because he had signed it relying on respondent’s deliberately false statement that the document was nothing more than a mere receipt for back wages. After both parties had introduced considerable evidence the jury found in favor of petitioner and awarded him a $25,000 verdict. The trial judge later entered judgment notwithstanding the verdict. In doing so he reappraised the evidence as to fraud, found that petitioner had been “guilty, of supine negligence” in failing to read the release, and accordingly held that the facts did not “sustain either in law or equity the allegations of fraud by…
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