Czarecki v. Seattle & San Francisco Railway & Navigation Co.

Citations

• 30 Wash. 288
• 70 P. 750
• 1902 Wash. LEXIS 685

Syllabus

<p>COAL MINES — VENTILATION—DUTY OE OPERATOR — DEATH OE MINER EROM SUEEOCATION.</p> <p>In an action to recover for the death of a workman in a coal mine caused by suffocation, an instruction was proper which set forth Bal. Code, § 3165, to the effect that the operator of every coal mine shall provide a good and sufficient amount of ventilation for such persons as may be employed therein, and then charged the jury that “the purpose of this law is to provide a reasonably safe place for the men to work in, and that the ventilation of the working places of the men shall be such as to maintain them reasonably safe from dangerous gases by a good and sufficient ventilation of the mine. This is a positive duty imposed upon the operator and owner of the mine, and for the neglect of this duty the law holds such operator or owner liable if damages result therefrom.”</p> <p>SAME — ASSUMPTION OE BISK.</p> <p>In such an action, it was proper to charge the jury that the degrees of care required of an operator of a coal mine and of the workmen employed underground differ; that “the miner or workman assumes only such risks and dangers as are open and apparent to him, or one in his position, and which are necessarily incident to his employment.”</p> <p>SAME-DELEGATION OE MASTER’S DUTY-WORKMAN AS VICE PRINCIPAL.</p> <p>An instruction that a loader was a vice principal, as to part of his work, when a portion of his duties was to keep the chutes open as an airway, was proper, where the necessary ventilation of the mine was a positive duty of the operator.</p> <p>SAME-CONCURRING NEGLIGENCE OE EELLOW SERVANT.</p> <p>Where the negligence of the coal mine operator in failing to afford good and sufficient ventilation in the mine was the cause of injury to a miner, the fact that the act of a fellow servant concurred in producing the injury would not excuse the master.</p> <p>SAME-EVIDENCE-NOTICE TO OPEBATOBS-COMPLAINTS OE BAD VENTILATION.</p> <p>Evidence that complaints of the insufficient ve