Hughes v. Oregon Improvement Co.

Citations

• 20 Wash. 294
• 55 P. 119
• 1898 Wash. LEXIS 522

Syllabus

<p>MASTER AND SERVANT—COAL MINING—EELLOW-SERVANTS—EIRE IN MINE-INJURY TO EMPLOYEE—CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE.</p> <p>Where a coal miner, after notice that the mine was on fire and a request sent him to leave the mine, for which there was ample time, remained and was suffocated through the stoppage of the ventilating fan and the opening of a tunnel door, thus permitting the smoke to rush into the gangway where he was, he was guilty of contributory negligence sufficient to bar the recovery of damages for his death.</p> <p>In the conduct of the business of coal mining, when neither those in charge of the ventilating fan, nor the gas testers, nor pit boss, nor outside boss, are clothed with any authority to employ or discharge men, or to take the supervision and charge of any department of the business, but are engaged in serving the same master in the same general business, for the purpose of accomplishing one general object, they are all fellow servants with the miners working underground.</p> <p>Although the shutting down of a ventilating fan at the time of a sudden outbreak of fire in a coal mine may have been one of the causes of the death of plaintiffs intestate, yet such act cannot be charged as negligence, when it appears that it was done in the excitement and confusion incident to learning that the mine was on fire, while in ignorance of its location, and that, had the fire been in a place other than it was, the shutting down of the fan would have been the proper thing to have done.</p> <p>The mere fact that a fire occurred in a coal mine is not proof of negligence, when it does not appear to have been the result of any act imputable to the company.</p> <p>The fact that the fan was shut down at the wrong time, at the outbreak of a fire in the mine, does not show negligence in selecting or retaining the servants in charge of the fan, when it does not appear that they had ever failed to discharge any of their duties in connection therewith, or that the fan had not b