Simmons v. Lehigh Valley Coal Co.

Citations

• 240 Pa. 354
• 87 A. 568
• 1913 Pa. LEXIS 677

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Mines and mining — Passageways — Duty to furnish — Mine foreman — Proximate cause — Fellow servant — Act of June 2,1891, P. L. 176.</p> <p>1. To provide a proper passageway in a tunnel is a nondelegable duty imposed on mine owners and not one of the statutory duties imposed on mine foremen.</p> <p>2. The case was for the jury in an action by an employee of defendant mining company to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by him, while passing through a tunnel in defendant’s mine, where it appeared that in consequence of a failure to provide a sufficient passageway by the side of a track, upon which coal cars were, standing at a curve in the track, it became necessary for the plaintiff and others with him to pass between the cars to reach the other side of the tunnel, and in so doing a keg of powder carried by one of the men came in contact with an electric trolley wire, in consequence of'which an explosion occurred, and plaintiff was injured. Whether the defendant company had provided a safe passageway as required by the statute, and, if not, whether the failure so to do was the proximate cause of the accident, and whether the negligence of plaintiff or a co-employee had contributed to the accident, were all questions for the jury, and a verdict for the plaintiff should be sustained.</p>