Today in Supreme Court History: February 14

Reynolds v. Atlantic Coast Line R.R. Co., 336 U.S. 207 (decided February 14, 1949): failure to clear sugar cane plants from railbed (this was Alabama) which required brakeman to cross from caboose to seventh instead of to usual sixth car to give signal was not proximate cause of his falling to his death while crossing from sixth to seventh car

Dobson v. Comm’r of Internal Revenue, 321 U.S. 231 (decided February 14, 1944): “Not every gain growing out of a transaction concerning capital assets is allowed the benefits of the capital gains tax provision”.  People who live off of buying and selling stocks pay a lower tax rate than those of us who work for a living, so the Court tends to (or used to) construe capital gains narrowly.  Here, income was from settlement of dispute over stock sale, not from sale of stock itself.

Maty v. Grasselli Chemical Co., 303 U.S. 197 (decided February 14, 1938): applying state law (New Jersey) in a diversity action, holds that plaintiff can add allegations of another job under same employer wherein exposed to chemicals even after statute of limitations has run

Hollingsworth v. Virginia, 3 U.S. 378 (decided February 14, 1798): passage of Eleventh Amendment was valid despite not having been formally presented to the President (obvious to us now, but this was the first time the amendment process was used) and was retroactive (plaintiff, seeking repayment from Virginia, had handed off to an out-of-state plaintiff because Chisholm v. Georgia had made it clear that a state could be sued in federal court by an out-of-state individual but not necessarily by an in-state) (Chisholm had then been abrogated by the Eleventh Amendment)

South Carolina State Highway Dept. v. Barnwell Bros., 303 U.S. 177 (decided February 14, 1938): state restriction on weight of trucks (20,000 lbs.) and width (90 inches) does not unfairly burden interstate commerce, and Congress has not preempted the field