Cossette v. Paulton Coal Mining Co.
Cossette v. Paulton Coal Mining Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
On December 7, 1914, the plaintiff, Joe Cossette, an employee of defendant company, was severely injured in the latter’s coal mine; he sued in trespass, alleging negligence ; the court below entered a nonsuit, which it subsequently refused to remove; hence this appeal.
The case is so well disposed of in the following excerpts from the opinion of the learned court below that we need add but little thereto: “A cross entry to connect the main haulage way with a face entry.....was in process of completion at about this time [the date of the accident] ...; from both ends it had been driven and constructed by miners, who as they advanced approached each other; and so the work continued until in the afternoon of December 6, 1914, when they met and knocked or cut through a small hole.....from two feet to three feet in size.....The plaintiff had not been engaged in working in the new entry, but was mining coal in another part of the mine. On the morning of the day of the injury he went to his work at 6:30 o’clock, and completed his day’s work about 11 o’clock a. m., when, in company with his fellow employee, Ameliori Buffa, he started to go out of the mine. In going out they proceeded by way of this new entry, Buffa being in the lead, and having passed through the aforesaid opening or hole,
We have read all the printed testimony, and find the foregoing summary substantially correct. The statement of claim alleges that defendant “delegated the immediate supervision of said mine to a superintendent”; but, as already indicated, plaintiff contended at trial that this official was frequently absent and, as a matter of fact, the mine foreman really acted in the dual capacity of foreman and superintendent. We agree with the court below, however, that the evidence relied upon to sustain this contention is entirely too vague, indefinite and inconclusive to justify a jury in so finding.
Of course, had the new entry been fully completed a sufficient period of time before the accident to fix the defendant with constructive notice of the defect therein, or had defendant received express notice of its faulty condition, or, again, had the way ex: isted for such a .length .of time as to become part of the established plant, or, further, had i,t been in use as a regular, completed passage, then a different case would
Here, as properly ruled by the learned court below, the negligence, if any, was purely that of the mine foreman, for which the defendant is not liable (Durkin v. Kingston Coal Co., 171 Pa. 193, 203; Hall v. Simpson, 203 Pa. 146, 148; Golden v. Mt. Jessup Coal Co., 225 Pa. 164, 166-7; Dempsey v. Buck Run Coal Co., 227 Pa. 571, 578, 579; Reeder v. Lehigh Valley Co., supra, pp. 575-6; D’Jorko v. Berwind-White Co., 231 Pa. 164, 169-70). The situation of this injured appellant commands our sympathy, but the law must be administered as established; and, thereunder, we cannot hold the action, complained of to be error.
The judgment is . affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Cossette v. Paulton Coal Mining Company
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Negligence — Master and servant — Mines and mining —Bituminous Coal Mine Act of June 9, 1911, P. L. 756 — Construction of passageway — Mine foreman — Negligence of mine foreman — Con-r structive notice of defect — Contributory negligence — Nonsuit. 1. The rule that under the general provision of the mining acts placing the workings under the mine foreman’s charge and supervision, and under certain special provisions thereof, the foreman is responsible for all work in the course of the construction of passageways, expressed with reference to prior statutes, is applicable to the Act of June 11,1911, P. L. 756. 2. In an action against a mining company to recover for injuries sustained by an employee in consequence of the fall upon him of slate from the roof of a newly constructed passageway, a compulsory nonsuit was properly entered where it appeared that the passageway was being constructed under the supervision of the mine foremen; that his attention was called to the dangerous condition of the roof, but that it was not remedied; that no signal was placed to warn employees of the danger; that the foreman told plaintiff and other -workmen that they could use the passageway, and that the next day, while plaintiff was using it, a portion of the roof fell, causing the injuries complained of. 3. In such case had the new entry been completed a sufficient period of time before the accident to fix the defendant with constructive notice of the defect therein, or had the latter received express notice of its faulty condition, or had the way existed for such a length of time as to become part of the established plant, or had it been in use as a regular, completed passage, the defendant might have been held liable. 4. It seems plaintiff was not guilty of contributory negligence under the facts of this case.