William O. Douglas

“ Since the New York legislature is constitutionally barred from vesting its Workmen's Compensation Board and its courts with jurisdiction over the claim, I fail to see how they can acquire jurisdiction through consent of the parties. ”

“ Winfield, 244 U.S. 147, 37 S.Ct. 546, 61 L.Ed. 1045, that the remedy for personal injuries suffered by employees of interstate railroad carriers is regulated both inclusively and exclusively by the federal Act, that no room is left for state regulation, that even though the injury on which the claim is based is not attributable to negligence and therefore may not be compensated for under the federal Act, nevertheless a state may not afford a remedy. ”

“ The Court held that the federal Act supplanted the state acts and established one exclusive standard of liability for interstate railroad carriers. And see Erie R. Co. v. Winfield, 244 U.S. 170, 172, 37 S.Ct. 556, 557, 61 L.Ed. 1057.
Therefore, by reason of the Supremacy Clause, a state has no power to adopt a different standard of liability for these personal injuries. It may neither force nor permit the carriers or the employees to settle these personal injury claims on a different basis than the federal Act supplies. ”