Toward v. Meadow Lands Coal Co.
Toward v. Meadow Lands Coal Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The husband of the appellee was a motorman in charge of an electric motor car in one of the mines of the appellant. On January 7, 1909, as he was taking this car along the main entry towards the shaft, it ran into a mule on the track and he was thrown from his seat and killed. That the mule got on the track as the result of the negligence of some one is a self-evident proposition. It had been placed temporarily in a mule hole a short time before by one of the drivers, and, not having been fastened, strayed out on the track. There was no bar or gate across the mule hole, and whether there was a post inside of it to which the mule could have been tied was a disputed question of fact. The jury might fairly have found from all the testimony in the case that the sole efficient cause of the collision between the motor car and the mule, which resulted in the death of the motorman, was the negligence of Miller, a coemployee of the deceased, in putting the mule in the hole and leaving it there unhitched, contrary to the orders that had been given to him by his superiors; and they were instructed that, if they should so find, the plaintiff could not recover. But a further instruction to them was, that even if they should find Miller to have been negligent, and at the same time
It is contended that the act of 1907 does not apply to coal mines, because it does not mention mines or mining. True, mines and mining are not mentioned, but the comprehensive words of the act include "all actions brought to recover from an employer for injury suffered by his employee.” This defendant was the employer of the ap
Another contention of the learned counsel for the appellant is that the act of 1907 is unconstitutional, in view of what was held in Durkin v. Kingston Coal Co. et al., 171 Pa. 193. What was there decided was that so much of sec. 8 of art. 17 of the Act of June 2, 1891, P. L. 176, as imposes liability on a mine owner for the failure of a foreman to comply with the provisions of the act which com
There is no error in any of the instructions which are the subjects of the five assignments, and the jury, having found that it was the negligence of the defendant that caused or contributed to the collision which resulted in the death of the appellee’s husband, the judgment is affirmed.
Reference
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- Toward v. Meadow Lands Coal Company
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- Syllabus
- Negligence — Master and servant — Mines and mining — Defects in works or plants — Act of June 10, 1907, P. L. 523. 1. No employer is exempt from the operation of the Act of June 10, 1907, P. L. 523, so far as it relates to delects in the works or plant under his direct control, and of which defects he can have knowledge by the exercise of ordinary care. 2. Mule holes in mines, made for the purpose of preventing mules, while not working, from straying and being a source of danger to employees on mine cars, are part of the works of the mine owners, and failure to provide bars, gat es or hitching posts to keep the mules in is a failure of duty by the mine owner, and a “defect in the works” under the act of 1907 which, if found to have caused or contributed to the injury of an employee, renders the owner liable regardless of proof of negligence of a coemployee.