Elder v. Lykens Valley Coal Co.

Citations

• 157 Pa. 490
• 27 A. 545
• 1893 Pa. LEXIS 1441

Syllabus

<p>[Marked to be reported.]</p> <p>Mining — Negligent deposit of culm — Vis inertia,.</p> <p>An owner of a mine who deposits culm and refuse from his mines in a stream, or in a place where ordinary floods will carry it down upon the lands of others, is liable for the injury that his neighbor may suffer therefrom.</p> <p>If a mine owner throws culm into a stream where the ordinary current will act upon it, and carry it gradually down the stream, the fact that an extraordinary flood quickened its descent, and gave the final impulse that lodged it on another’s land, will not relieve the mine owner from liability.</p> <p>In such a case the extraordinary flood is not an unlooked for and overjiowering force invading the defendant’s grounds and sweeping away that which an ordinary flood would not reach, but a force co-operating with the negligence of the defendant.</p> <p>Injuries from culm — Waters—Measure of damages.</p> <p>Where a lower riparian owner is injured by culm washed upon his lands through the negligence of an upper riparian owner, the measure of damages is the cost of removing the culm; if this is impracticable then the difference in the rental value of the land caused by the descent of the refuse upon it.</p> <p>Negligence — Opinion of witness — Question for jury.</p> <p>Whether a given act is performed in a prudent and proper manner is a subject upon which a witness qualified to speak may express an opinion; but whether a line of conduct, like the management of a culm pile, is negligent or careful, is a question for the jury to decide from all the facts before them.</p> <p>Evidence — Opinion of expert — Relevancy of testimony.</p> <p>In an action to recover damages for injuries caused by culm being washed upon plaintiff’s land, evidence of an engineer that certain retaining walls were built in a proper manner, is irrelevant, where it appears that the injury was done by the defendant throwing the culm in large quantities into a stream.</p>