Tipton

Appellant filed in the superior court of the state of California for the county of Fresno a complaint alleging that defendant corporation was authorized to do business in the state of California, and was doing business as a common carrier by railroad of interstate commerce and that its tracks were maintained as a highway of interstate commerce; that he was employed by defendant as a switchman; that while assisting in “spotting” a car at a storehouse of defendant in the town of Riverbank in said state, he was injured because a defective cut-lever used in detaching the car failed to operate when manipulated by a fellow employee; that by reason of such defective uncoupling appliance appellant was crushed between the car and the storehouse platform, being severely injured. Claiming to have been totally incapacitated, he prayed damages in the sum of $40,000.

Appellee, a Kansas corporation, had the cause removed to the federal District Court. That court granted appellee’s demurrer, interposed upon the ground that the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, and dismissed the cause without leave to amend. Plaintiff appeals.

Plaintiff bases his case upon…