Vant v. Roelofs

Citations

• 217 Pa. 535
• 66 A. 749
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 753

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Fellow servant — Vice principal — Evidence.</p> <p>It is the duty of the court to first determine whether, assuming all the facts proven at the trial to be true they are sufficient to show that the relation of vice principal was established.</p> <p>Negligence — Master and servant — Instructions to servant.</p> <p>No instructions are necessary from an employer to an employee as to a danger which is obvious to anyone.</p> <p>A vice principal is one placed in entire charge of the business, or a distant branch of it, having not mere authority to superintend certain work or certain workmen, but who exercises control of the business, or a particular branch of it, and where the employer does not exercise discretion or oversight of his own; or, secondly, one to whom the employer delegates a duty of his own which is a direct, personal and absolute obligation from which nothing but performance can relieve him. Where a, person is claimed to be a vice principal and the testimony on the subject does not come up to the legal requirement as above stated, it is error for the court to submit to the jury the question of vice principal-ship.</p>