Holmes v. Bloomfield Coal & Mining Co.
Holmes v. Bloomfield Coal & Mining Co.
Opinion of the Court
The negligence alleged is that: (1) Defendant failed, omitted and neglected to timber the roof at the place where the injury occurred; (2) to take down or remove the loosened portions of the roof which fell and caused the injury; (3) to give deceased proper warning of the condition of the roof at the place where the injury occurred; (4) to properly plan and arrange the work of making the roadway or entry, in that there were insufficient workmen or timbermen furnished to keep the place properly timbered, or to remove the loosened parts of the roof; (5) defendant was negligent in permitting the work of shooting down the roof to be prosecuted far in advance, to wit, 75 feet beyond where the timbering was done, following the work of shooting down roof.
Defendant’s motion for a directed verdict was upon the grounds, in substance, as follows: Because the uncontradicted evidence shows: (1) No actionable negligence was shown; (2) deceased was working in a new' place which was being made and constructed, and defendant did not owe the duty of keeping the same safe, but it was plaintiff’s duty to care for his own roof; (3) the workmen en
Appellant’s contentions are substantially these: That there Avas a jury question, because the evidence shows that the place where deceased sustained the injury Avas one over which defendant company had control, and the conditions were within the knowledge of the defendant, or should have been; that deceased acted under the directions of the mine foreman; that, at the time of the injury to deceased, it was no part of his duty to make repairs of the roof by way of timbering the roof of the haulageway, which was in process of reconstruction, or to take down or remove the loosened portions thereof, and the defendant owed him the duty to exercise reasonable care to prnvide him with a safe place to work; that defendant was engaged in reconstructing the roadway to make a convenient means of ingress and egress for workmen, and to make the roadway more convenient as a haulageway, and defendant was obliged to exercise reasonable care to furnish deceased a reasonably safe place to work, where he had no duty to perform in the timbering or making of the place. .In support of these propositions they cité Code Supp., 1913, Section 4999-a3; Hartshorn v. Mardis Company, 165 Iowa 454, 460; Wilder v. Great Western Cereal Co., 134 Iowa 451, 460; Winslow v. Commercial Building Co., 147 Iowa 238; Jacobson v. United States Gypsum Co., 144 Iowa 1; Funk v. Leonard Construction Co., 159 Iowa 320; Verlin v. United States Gypsum Co.,
In the view we take of the case, the evidence did not show actionable negligence on the part of the defendant. This is decisive of the case, and renders it unnecessary to discuss the other points. We think counsel for appellant misapprehends the record as to the duties of deceased and the company, under the circumstances shown here, and that, therefore, the cases cited and relied upon are not entirely applicable.
It may be well at this, point to 'set out the evidence somewhat more in detail, as bearing upon the point just suggested. This we shall attempt to do in a general way, without going too much into detail. The two witnesses Peterson and Budkins were examined at length, with numerous re-examinations and recross-examinations; and two amendments to abstracts, setting out additional evidence, have been filed, one by each of the parties. One Carlson was the pit foreman in charge of the work, and, as witness puts it, was the man who looked after the direction of the work that had to be done. We do not find that any particular directions were given deceased as to his duties at the time in question, except that one of the men, or perhaps both, warned him, and suggested that he examine the roof and
“Well, we got orders, Mr. Rudkins in the evening, what was to be done there at night on that work, and he would get directions from us through Carlson, from Carlson through us.”
When asked if he gave directions to deceased, he said, “Not exactly,” and explained as follows:
“Holmes was working on the east end in the fore part of the shift. After we ate supper, we needed another man for leveling off behind us, and Arsenica kind of had a little charge at night over the east end, as well as we had of the west end, and he came over, and we, either Rudkins or I, asked him if he had any man on the east end he was not using; so I think it ivas me said, ‘You had better send one over here after supper; we have got more than we can handle, and we will have to level off some here,’ and if they was not working there he could send one over, and that he should fetch a churn drill from the bottom. So after supper he went to the bottom and got one of his drills and came over. That was deceased. But we did not send for him to come over. We said we wanted a man. After deceased came over, we told him to level off the work behind the platform, where it was not quite level enough.”
The testimony shows, also, that both Peterson and Rudkins had been doing part of the leveling off ¿s they went along, and that, when deceased was hurt, it was the second shot they were shooting in the top layer that night. And the witness says that he (witness) did not direct deceased to do any part of the timbering, and when asked as to whether it was any part of the duty of deceased to do timbering, he answered that it was not, to his knowledge, and says that the mine foreman did not give him direc
We shall not take the time or space to set out the evidence more in detail. It appears from the record that the entry or haulageway was not ready for travel and usage, but was in process of being constructed, and that deceased and the two men with him were creating the conditions as they existed at the time of the injury; that the fall of slate occurred within 10 or 12 feet of the place ivhere Peterson and Budkins were blasting; that ordinarily, in entry work, the roof is not timbered by the company closer than from 15 to 20 feet of the working face, and that, if it is closer (ban tha+ it is (he duty of the men driving the entry to set the.
Appellee contends that it was the duty of deceased and of those working with him to care for the safety of their. working places, and that, defendant having furnished, accessible and ready for use, an adequate supply of timbers and timbermen, its duty was performed, under Chapter 106, Sections 33, 41 and 44, of the Acts of the Thirty-fourth General Assembly; and they cite Williams v. Craig-Dawson Coal Co., 165 Iowa 588, Lammey v. Central Coal Mining Co., 144 Iowa 640, Williamis v. Norwood-White Coal Co., 146 Iowa 489. But it is contended by appellant that Section 44 of the act just referred to, which reads in part as follows : “It shall be the duty of each employe to examine his working place upon entering the same and shall not commence to mine or load coal or other mineral until it is made safe. Each miner or other employe employed in a mine shall securely prop and timber the roof of his working place therein and shall obey any order or orders given by the superintendent pr mine foreman relating to the width of the working place and to the security of the mine in the part thereof where he is at work” — has no application to the case at bar, because it has reference to the working place where the miner is engaged at mining coal, and they cite Carnego v. Crescent Coal Co., 163 Iowa 194, at 199, where it was said:
“Of course, it was thejr duty to securely prop or sup*146 port the roof or entries under their control [meaning the miners]. Section 2491, Code. But was the entry at the point of the accident under their control? As said, the evidence ón this point was in conflict. Section 44 of Chapter 106 of the Thirty-fourth General Assembly declares that: ‘It shall be the duty of each employee to examine his working place upon entering the same and he shall not commence to mine or load coal or other mineral until it is made safe. Each miner or other employee employed in a mine shall securely prop and timber the roof of his working place therein.'’ This has reference to the place where the employee is ‘to mine or load coal or other mineral,’ and not to the entry through which he reaches such place or brings his tools or the car to use or load. Whether the roof of the entry shall be inspected and repaired by the employer or the miner depends upon who is in control, and, if the jury found that, according to custom and usage, the defendant’s employees, Smith and Pevlik, were required to repair the entry where the switch was, and were then in charge of that work, it necessarily follows that the defendant, if these men failed to exercise ordinary care therein, and the injury resulted from such failure, ivas negligent.”
But in that case there was a conflict in the testimony as to who was in control of the place. We think in the instant case there is no conflict on that point, and in the Oarnego case, where the court said that the statute had reference to the place where the employe is to mine or load coal or other mineral, and not to the entry through which he reaches such place or brings his tools, etc., the court had reference to a completed entry, or an entry so far completed as to have passed beyond the control of the miner, and so that it would not be his working place in the sense used in the statute. The same rule would apply to a haulagewav such as was being constructed here, which was to be used as an entry when completed.
The fourth specification of negligence, in regard to defendant’s keeping the roof timbered or taking down the slate, has been covered by what has been said, and the fifth and last specification, in regard to defendant’s permitting the shooting down of the roof to be prosecuted too far in advance, is not sustained by the evidence before set out. As before stated, deceased knew that shots had been fired at this place only a short time before, and that the effect thereof was to loosen the roof. It was his duty to sound the roof over the place where he was working. He was warned in regard to this, and it was his duty to take, down the piece of slate. Under the evidence, the defendant did not timber closer than within 15 or 20 feet of the working face, and
We shall not take the time or space to review the cases cited. It is true, as said by appellant, that some of those cited and relied upon by appellee are where the conditions are not precisely as here.
It is our conclusion from the whole record that appellant did not show actionable negligence on the part of the defendant, and the trial court, therefore, properly directed a verdict for the defendant.
The judgment is — Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.