Macketta v. Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Co.
Macketta v. Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
John Macketta, the appellee, an experienced coal miner, was employed by the appellant, The Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company, to
It appears that appellee had been at work in an entry of the mine where he was injured more than four months; that from time to time parts of the roof of the entry had been propped or “timbered” up, but near to the end of the entry, and where he and his companion, commonly called his “buddy,” were at work, no timbering had been done. The roof was defective, and appellee and his companion, observing its condition, sent for the mining boss, and when he came they asked him to. allow them to make the roof .safe, but he refused permission, telling them they could not do that work and that he would have a company man come in and fix it before the following morning. When they returned in the morning rock was found on the traveling way of the entry, and, supposing that the company man had taken the rock down in accordance with the promise made, they proceeded to clear away the rock on the floor, and while doing so a rock fell from the roof and broke appellee’s leg. In his petition appellee alleged that appellant, in violation of a statute, failed to exercise care for the safety of its employees working in its mines by seeing that as the miners 'advanced the excavations all loose coal, slate and rock overhead were carefully secured against falling upon the traveling way. In addition the petition set out a common-law liability of appellant because it failed to provide appellee a safe place in which to work. On the other hand, appellant claimed that appellee was aware of the dangerous condition of the roof of the mine and was engaged in the work of making it safe when the injury was sustained, and that he and not the appellant was responsible for the accident. That the appellant failed to take the precautions for the safety of the miners as
Although contested, there appears to be sufficient testimony to support the findings, with a single exception. In one finding appellee is awarded $81 for medical services. The only testimony to be found in the abstract relating to medical treatment is that the
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.