O'Neal v. Clydesdale Stone Co.
O'Neal v. Clydesdale Stone Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This action was brought to recover damages for personal injuries, which were alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the defendant company. Under the view taken by the trial judge, no negligence upon the part of the defendant was shown, and binding instructions to find in its favor were given to the jury. From this action of the court, the plaintiff has appealed.
We find from the record in this case that the defendant, the Clydesdale Stone Company, is the owner of several quarries in Lawrence county, and is a corporation engaged in the business of quarrying and shipping by railroad large, heavy sandstone. The plaintiff, James O’Neal, was a quarryman, who had been in defendant’s employ for two years, and had been engaged in that trade for over thirty years. On October 13, 1900, he was occupied with another workman, Tony Barr by name, in the defendant’s quarry. Plaintiff was sitting on a “bench,” or ledge, while Barr was on a small ledge beneath him. While in this position, plaintiff was injured by a large stone, which was being swung over his head by means of a derrick, and which broke loose from the steel tongs or “ dogs ” which held it. It appeared that the “ dogs ” were usually inserted by a “ tagman,” William Watkins ; that it was his duty to see that holes were drilled in both sides of the stone; that, if this had not been done by the quarryman, whose primary duty it was, it was his duty to make the hole. Tony Barr testified that he saw the tagman put the hooks on the stone; that there was but one hole in it, and that the tagman inserted one hook in the hole and placed the other beneath the stone. O’Neal and Barr testified that-they heard no warning before the stone came, but Barr testified that some one “hallooed ” when the stone was slipping out. Watkins, the tagman, testified that it was his custom to call “ heads up,” or “ look out,” when a stone was being swung around, but he did not know whether he gave notice at the time of the accident or not. Several witnesses testified that it was customary to swing the stone over the men’s heads, and that it was
Whether the accident resulted from failure to see that the holes were properly made in the stone to receive the “ dogs,” or whether the “ dogs ” were not properly adjusted therein, or because the “ dogs ” were not in good condition; in any of these events, the failure in duty was upon the part of the “ tag-man,” Watkins. To him also must be attributed the lack of 'warning, when the stone was swung around, if any such there was.
The testimony makes it perfectly clear that whatever negligence there was in the case must be attributed to Watkins.
It is equally clear, under the authority of Ricks v. Flynn, 196 Pa. 263, and the principles which are there so fully set forth by our Brother Mestkezat, that the tagman was a fellow-workman with the plaintiff, for whose acts of omission the defendant company could not be held liable. The facts in that case are similar to those in the present case, and its determination is controlling here.
There are no grounds upon which to base the suggestion of counsel for appellant, that the defendant company failed in the
The Anew taken by the learned trial judge was entirely correct.
The assignments of error are dismissed and the judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- O'Neal v. Clydesdale Stone Company
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- Syllabus
- Negligence—Fellow-servant—Master and servant—Quarry tagman. Where it is the duty of a tagman in a quarry to- see that holes are properly made in a stone about to be moved, so as to receive the steel tongs or “ dogs,” and to see that the “ dogs ” are in good condition, and that they are properly adjusted in the stone, and also to warn workmen when a stone is about to be swung in the process of loading, and the tag-man fails in any of these duties, and a workman in the quarry is injured, such workman cannot recover damages for his injuries from the operator of the quarry.