Hugo Black

“ We cannot agree with the State Supreme Court's holding that although the railroad ran its train with defective brakes it thereby 'violated no duty owing' to the decedent. That court said that the object of the Safety Appliance Act 'insofar as brakes might be concerned, is not to protect employees from standing, but from moving trains.'
We do not view the Act's purpose so narrowly. It commands railroads not to run trains with defective brakes. An abrupt or unexpected stop due to bad brakes might be equally dangerous to employees and others as a failure to stop a train because of bad brakes. ”

“ Congress has thus for its own reasons imposed extraordinary safety obligations upon railroads and has commanded that if a breach of these obligations contributes in part to an employee's death, the railroad must pay damages. These air-brakes were defective; for this reason alone the train suddenly and unexpectedly stopped; a motor track car following at about the same rate of speed and operated by an employee looking in another direction crashed into the train ”

“ The Utah Supreme Court reviewed the evidence here and held as a matter of law that the defective equipment did not proximately cause or contribute to the decedent's death. That court discussed distinctions between 'proximate cause' in the legal sense, deemed a sufficient cause to impose liability, and 'cause' in the 'philosophical sense,' deemed insufficient to impose liability. ”