McMennimen v. Lehigh Valley Coal Co.

Citations

• 257 Pa. 259
• 101 A. 735
• 1917 Pa. LEXIS 720

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Vice-principal—Obvious danger — Assumption of rish — Proof of negligence — Nonsuit.</p> <p>1. Where the danger which attends an employee’s operation is obvious, he assumes the risk.</p> <p>2. Where the evidence fails to establish a specific act of negligence on the part of a track boss to which the injury can be attributed, the question whether or not the track boss was a vice-principal is unimportant.</p> <p>3. In an action by a widow against her deceased husband’s employer to recover damages for the death of the husband, a nonsuit was properly entered where it appeared that the decedent was a skilled mechanic employed by defendant about an inclined plane by which cars were'elevated from the pit of a mine to the breaker; that on the day of the accident a car on such incline became derailed and decedent and ether workmen under the direction of a track boss attempted to replace it; that the car, at the suggestion of some of the workmen was moved up the incline and there snubbed upon a hook intended to hold cars, there being another car, standing on the incline below it; that in the effort to put the car on the track the hook slipped for some unexplained reason and the car rolled back and crushed decedent against the car below; and where it further appeared that there was available proper equipment to hold the car safely in place, and that the car below could have been removed to a safe distance if this had been deemed necessary, but that the method pursued was customary in such eases, and it did not appear that it was unsafe.</p>