Nebo Coal Co. v. Barnett
Nebo Coal Co. v. Barnett
Opinion of the Court
Opinión of the Court by
Reversing.
On tbe 21st day of February, 1914, Elmer Barnett, wbo bad been in tbe employ of tbe appellant, Nebo Coal Company, for several years, was run over by a motor, wbicb was a part of tbe equipment of tbe appellant coal company, and very severely injured, and thereafter be filed a petition in ordinary against tbe appellant, in wbicb be alleged that tbe injury was caused bim by tbe gross negligence of one of tbe servants of tbe company superior in authority to bim. Tbe appellant, by its answer, traversed tbe allegations of tbe petition, and, also, plead that tbe injury suffered by appellee arose from a risk
The facts of the case are as follows: .
The appellee had been in the employ of the appellant for about six years before the time of his injury. For > some months he held the position known in the mines as “timber boss,” and as such it was his duty to supervise the placing of timbers in the mines when it was necessary to have the roof supported by such timbers. When not engaged in that particular line of work he mined coal and did any kind of work that was to be performed in and about the mines. The regular order of work was not being performed in the mine on the day upon which he suffered the injury, on account of which he sued, but he came to the mines early in the morning to see if there was any work which he could get to do. Henry Byrum, the assistant mine superintendent, as claimed by appellee, and “entry boss,” as claimed by appellant, was organizing a crew to go into the mine" and to clean the motor roads of debris that might be in them. An open-topped flat car, which had no cross pieces at the ends of its bed, but had a board about eight inches in height nailed along each side and another board of about the same width attached to each of these boards, making a flare upon each side, was attached to1 an electric motor, and was to be used in the work, which was proposed to be done. The car bed was about one and one-half feet above the tracks and the car weighed about one thousand pounds. A chain about five or six feet long was attached to the car at one end and to the electric motor, which was used in propelling the car. The motor was about eleven feet in length and weighed fifteen thousand pounds, and was operated ■by a motorman, who had a seat upon it. The man who regularly operated the motor, upon the day of the injury and before the crew had started into the mine to clean the motor roads, reported to Byrum that he was unwell and not able to work, when Byrum said that he would
In support of its contention that the court should have-directed a verdict in its favor, the appellant insists that the injury was caused by such contact between the motor and car as always accompanies the movement of a car such as that was, by a motor, and that there is necessarily always more or less jerking and bumping in the handling of such a motor and car, and that the appellee was well acquainted with these facts. It cites the cases- of L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Greenwell, 144 Ky., 796; L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Greenwell, 125 S. W., 1054; L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Fox, 20 R., 81; Rose v. L. & N. R. R. Co., 36 S. W. 439; and Yates v. Millers Creek Coal Co., 28 R., 331, as authorities supporting its contention. These cases, however, do not seem to be in point, from the fact that they were cases having to do with injuries resulting from the ordinary, usual and necessary jerking and bumping together of freight cars, propelled by steam engines upon railroads. While- such jerks as usually attend the movement of freight trains propelled by locomotives, and which are necessary in the movement of such trains, are not proof of negligence in the employes whp are operating the locomotive, and an injury received by an employe from such an ordinary and necessary jerk is a. risk assumed by the employe; but an injury which re■sults from a violent, unusual, and unnecessary jerk does not arise from an assumed risk, but a jerk in the-operation of a freight train which is violent, unusual, and unnecessary, is evidence from which negligence on the part of the ones operating the locomotive may be inferred. If the proof for the appellee, in the case at bar,, is to be believed, the jolt which was received by the car- and caused the injury to appellee was unusual, violent,, and unnecessary, and while evidence was given for appellant which tended to prove the contrary, the appelleewas entitled to have his contention upon that subject sub
In instruction number “I” given by the court upon its own motion and to which appellant objected, the court submitted to the jury the question as to whether or not Byrum was superior in authority to appellee, which was proper, but the instruction permitted and directed the jury to find a verdict for appellee if it believed from the evidence “that the motorman, Byrum, failed to exercise ordinary care in the discharge of his duties in operating the motor car and by reason of such failure, if there was such a failure on his part, he so negligently and carelessly operated the same as to cause the injuries, ’ ’ and by the third instruction defined ordinary care' and negligence, with reference to the actions of the superior servant Byrum. It defined ordinary care, as used in the instruction, to mean such care as is usually exercised by ordinarily careful and prudent persons under like or similar circumstances to those involved in this case, and negligence, as used in the instruction, to mean the failure to exercise ordinary care. These definitions are abstractly correct, but in this case they should have been„ given with reference to the duty" of the appellee to use ordinary care for his own safety, and not with reference to the actions of the superior servant. By a long line of decisions of this court it has become the well settled law in this State that a master is not liable to a servant for injuries incurred by him on account of the negligence, either ordinary or gross, of a fellow servant in the same ■ work and occupying the same situation as to authority as himself. It is, also, well settled that the ordinary negligence of a superior servant, which results in an injury which does not produce death to an inferior servant can not be imputed to the master. The servant, when he undertakes employment, so far as the master is affected, assumes all risks from injuries to himself which are •caused by the negligence, either ordinary or gross, of his fellow servants who are upon the same plane of equality as himself as to authority and engaged in the same work,
The principle, which holds that no recovery can be had, in favor of the servant, against the master for injuries, which arise from the servant’s superior’s ordixlary negligence, is limited to the cases where the superior servant has the immediate control of and supervision over the injured servant, and does not extend to cases where the superior servant’s ordinary negligence causes injury to an inferior servant, who is not immediately under his control and supervision. In this case the contention of appellee is that Henry Byrum was the superior servant and had immediate control of and supervision over the appellee in the work they were then engaged in, and the evidence offered by appellee tends to uphold that contention. It, therefore, follows that only the' gross negligence of Byrum, resulting in the injury complained of by appellee, can be imputed to the appellant. The court should have so instructed the jury,, and should have, also, defined gross negligence as a failure to exercise slight care.
It was the duty of appellee to exercise ordinary care for his own safety, and the court should have so instructed the jury, and defined ordinary care, as applied to the duty of the appellee, instead of the superior servant.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.