Golien v. Susquehanna Coal Co.
Golien v. Susquehanna Coal Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The opinion filed by the learned judge of the court below so fully states the facts and ably discusses the question involved in this appeal that extended discussion is rendered unnecessary. The only negligence averred in plaintiff’s statement or suggested by the evidence was that of William Oliver, the engineer employed to run the hoisting engine at the shaft of defendant’s colliery. His duty was to operate the hoisting engine, raising or lowering the cage used to convey men and materials down and up the shaft which afforded access to the mine, in obedience to signals given. There was no allegation of any defect in the plant or machinery, nor that the appliances used for giving signals to the engineer were not the best that could have been devised, nor that the employer had failed to make proper rules for the operation of the plant. The engine which Oliver operated was located in a separate building; when the proper signals had been given it was his duty to se move the levers which controlled the engine
That Oliver was a fellow servant of the plaintiff was decided in Bradbury v. Kingston Coal Co., 157 Pa. 231, and the plaintiff was not entitled to recover unless because of the provisions of the Act of June 10, 1907, P. L. 523, entitled, “An Act extending and defining the liability of employers,” etc. That statute clearly indicates that it was not the legislative intention to permit an employee to recover for injuries suffered through the negligence of a fellow servant in all cases, nor to make all employees the agents of the employer to the extent that he should be responsible for then negligence when their fellow servants suffered an injury in consequence thereof. The statute recites the causes of injury, arising out of the negligence of a fellow servant, for which the employer shall be liable, and the burden is upon a plaintiff in any case to show that his injury resulted from one of the causes expressed, before he can have any aid from this statute: Coleman v. Keenan, 223 Pa. 29; McGrath v. Thompson, 231 Pa. 631; Hurley v. Western Allegheny Railroad Co., 238 Pa. 67. The act covers other causes and omissions but they are not material in the determination of the present question. The portion of the statute which the plaintiff seeks to apply to the facts of this case is as follows: “The negligence of a fellow servant of the employee shall not be a defense, where the injury was caused or contributed to by any of the following causes, namely; . . . .'the neglect of any person engaged as superintendent, manager, foreman, or any other person in chargé or control of the works, plant or machinery.” The appellant contends that the engineer Oliver was, within the meaning of the statute, a “person
The statutes relating to the liability of employers, adopted in different states, vary widely in their terms, and the decisions arising under statutes in other jurisdictions vary accordingly. It has been held in Massachusetts, in cases somewhat similar to the present one, that when it
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.