Robel v. Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co.

Citations

• 254 Pa. 342
• 98 A. 959
• 1916 Pa. LEXIS 731

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Mines and mining — Vicious mule — Driver—Case for jury.</p> <p>1. In an action by the employee of a coal mining company to recover damages from his employer for personal'injuries, where it appeared that plaintiff was endeavoring to drive a mule hitched to a car in a mine, that he had never before driven the mule, and that as the mule passed through the gangway door it began to kick, frightening plaintiff and causing him to jump from the car so that he alighted upon a pile of sills and slipped under the moving car, in consequence of which the injuries complained of re-suited, it was for the jury to determine, the evidence being conflicting, whether the mule was vicious and if so whether defendant had knowledge thereof but failed to warn plaintiff, whether plaintiff in jumping from the car had acted as a reasonably prudent man would under like conditions and whether the kicking of the mule was the proximate cause of the injury.</p> <p>2. In such ease the fact that the sills were lying along the side of the track was not the proximate cause of the injury, and the contention that the fact that they were there as the result of the negligence of the assistant mine foreman relieved defendant from liability was, therefore, without merit.</p>