Richardson v. Carbon Hill Coal Co.

Citations

• 6 Wash. 52
• 20 L.R.A. 338
• 32 P. 1012
• 1893 Wash. LEXIS 224

Syllabus

<p>PRACTICE — AMENDMENT OF PLEADING — NON-SUIT—CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE — NEGLIGENCE —LIABILITY FOR PROVIDING UNSKILLFUL PHYSICIAN.</p> <p>Where leave has been obtained to file an amended complaint to correspond with the proofs, it is error to direct a non-suit for insufficiency of the original complaint, if the proofs show a cause of action.</p> <p>Where an employe of a coal company gets upon one end of the brake beam of the company’s engine, in order to ride through a narrow and dark tunnel on the way to the office to get his pay, and is injured by a projecting rock in the tunnel striking his knee and throwing him to the ground, breaking his leg and dislocating his hip, he is guilty of contributory negligence although riding on the engine at the direction of a foreman, it not being customary for the men to ride upon the brake beam, and the company having provided another way to reach the office than that through the tunnel.</p> <p>In an action against a company for injuries sustained in consequence of the negligent and unskillful treatment of the surgeon provided by the company, a non-suit is not warranted where the evidence shows that the company retained one dollar per month from the plaintiff’s pay for hospital dues and a physician; that the company by the acts of its officers assumed to provide a physician to treat plaintiff, and that such physician was a negligent and unfit person, although there was no proof of any express contract relation existing between the company and plaintiff with reference to providing him a hospital and a physician, and he was in fact taken to the house of a relative instead of to the hospital. (Hoyt and Stiles, JJ., dissent.)</p>