Sangamon Coal Mining Co. v. Wiggerhaus

Citations

• 122 Ill. 279
• 13 N.E. 648

Syllabus

<p>1. Mines and mining—providing signals and places of refuge—the statute construed. Section 8, of chapter 93, of the Be vised Statutes, entitled “Miners,” that “all underground, self-acting or engine planes or gangways on which coal cars are drawn and persons travel, shall be provided with some proper means of signaling between the stopping places and the end of said planes or gangways, and sufficient places of refuge at the sides of such planes or gangways shall be provided at intervals of not more than twenty feet apart, ” applies to all underground, self-acting or engine planes, and also to all underground gangways on which coal cars are drawn and persons travel, whatever the motive power may be.</p> <p>2. Same—the rule of negligence—as at common Icm. In an action on the case by a miner, to recover for a personal injury while working in a coal mine, the court instructed the jury, that if the defendant company knowingly, negligently, etc., failed to keep its doors across its gangways, and the gangways themselves, in reasonably safe condition and repair, and by reason thereof the plaintiff was injured, as alleged, they should find for the plaintiff: Held, that the instruction was proper, as laying down the rule of liability for negligence at the common law, and did not attempt to lay down the rule under the statute.</p> <p>3. Notice to an agent—as notice to the principal—in the case of corporations. When a duty is imposed upon and intrusted to an agent by a corporation, notice to such agent of matters falling within his line of duty is notice to the corporation.</p> <p>4. Appeals—finding of facts by Appellate Court. Where the Appellate Court renders a general judgment of affirmance of a judgment in favor of the plaintiff in an action on the case for negligence, without a finding of the facts, this will amount to a finding of each fact necessary to the right of recovery, and this court will presume that the evidence sustains the declaration.</p>