Krutlies v. Bulls Head Coal Co.

Citations

• 249 Pa. 162
• 94 A. 459
• 1915 Pa. LEXIS 694

Syllabus

<p>Negligence—Master and servant—Mines and mining—Injuries to minors—Act of May 1, 1909, P. L. 875—Statement of claim— False statements of minors—Liability of company.</p> <p>1. A statement of claim alleging that plaintiff was injured when under the age of sixteen and while employed by defendant in a coal breaker, is sufficient to put defendant on notice that plaintiff’s case is governed by the Act of May 1, 1909, P. L. 375, relating to the employment of minors in coal breakers, although the act is not specifically referred to and a violation of its provisions is not set forth. As the procurement of an employment certificate and the keeping thereof on file as required by the act is a matter of justification, the failure of the defendant to comply with the statute in such particulars need not be shown by the injured plaintiff, and is not required to be averred in his statement of claim.</p> <p>2. When the employment of a minor is shown to be illegal because forbidden by a statute like the Act of May 1, 1909, P. L. 375, that, in itself, is sufficient evidence of defendant’s negligence, and, if the injury complained of occurred in the course of the plaintiff’s Service under such unlawful employment, that is enough to show a causal connection, and the law will refer the injury to the original wrong as its proximate cause.</p> <p>3. The Act of May 1, 1909, P. L. 375, makes no provision for any certificate in the case of the employment of a minor over the age pf sixteen, and it provides no method of protecting employers from the result of deception if they engage a boy with the thought that he is over sixteen but who, in fact, proves to be under that age, and the subsequent acts on the subject indicate a legislative construction of the Act of 1909 to the effect that one who employs a minor who proves to be under sixteen, unless he can show a compliance with the mandates of the Act of 1909, does so at his own risk, so far as the question of age might enter into a subsequen