Bogdanovicz v. Susquehanna Coal Co.

Citations

• 240 Pa. 124
• 87 A. 295
• 1913 Pa. LEXIS 641

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Mines and mining — Master and servant — Duty to instruct — Certified mine foreman.</p> <p>1. In an action by a boy eighteen years old against his employer, a coal mining company, to recover damages for personal injuries, the case is for the jury, and a verdict and judgment for plaintiff will be sustained where the testimony of plaintiff corroborated by his other witnesses, although contradicted by the witnesses of the defendant, tends to show that the plaintiff was employed as a mule driver and assigned to his duty by an assistant certified foreman; that while employed, and standing on an iron hook on the side of the car, he was crushed between the car, and a prop or timber on the side of the gangway; that the clearance between the top of the car and the timber at the place of the accident was only about seven inches; that plaintiff was given no instructions or warning when he was assigned to duty as driver; that he had never been in the gangway before, had frequently ridden upon hooks on the side - of the cars, had seen others doing so, and had never been warned against it; that at the time of the accident' he could not ride in front of the car because it was loaded with timbers which projected over the front; and that the gangway was not lighted, except by lights on the harness of the mules, and the lights carried by the miners.</p> <p>2. In such a case the defendant company is not relieved from its duty of instructing and warning a young and inexperienced miner because a certified mine foreman was in charge of the mine.</p> <p>3. A certified mine foreman is simply an employee of the owner or operator of the mine, and occupies the same relative position to the operator as any other employee, except in so far as the statute has specifically imposed on him certain duties in the mine for the protection and safety of the workmen. Hence it is not his duty, in the absence of a statutory requirement, to instruct young or inexperienced workmen.</p>