Walsky v. Frick Coke Co.

Citations

• 262 Pa. 4
• 104 A. 798
• 1918 Pa. LEXIS 575

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Mines and mining — Trip rider — Inexperienced employee — Failure to instruct — Condition of couplings — Nonsuit.</p> <p>1. In an action against a coal mining company to recover for personal injuries sustained by a seventeen-year-old boy, a trip rider in defendant’s employ, where the only allegations of negligence attempted to be supported at the trial were (1) that the defendant did not furnish the plaintiff with reasonably safe cars, connections or appliances and (2) did not give proper instructions relative to getting- on and off .moving trains, a compulsory nonsuit was properly entered where plaintiff’s evidence failed to support either allegation but showed that a trip of thirteen ears parted between the seventh and eighth cars, and that at the time plaintiff was on the rear of the front car, that he set the brake on the rear of that car, stepped off the trip and attempted to get on again between the second and third cars for the purpose of setting the brake on the rear of the second car, but fell or was knocked down and injured in so doing ; that at the time of the accident plaintiff, who had been employed in the mine for two years prior thereto, had been engaged in the particular work only a few days and had received no special instructions when he began such duties; and the evidence was to the effect that the hitchings, <levises and pins connecting the cars were all in good condition, and the cause of the separation of the cars was a matter of conjecture.</p> <p>2. Plaintiff could not successfully contend in support of a motion to strike off the nonsuit that the negligence of the defendant was not in failing to give the plaintiff instructions as to how to get on and off the moving cars but in failing to instruct him to keep off a runaway trip, where such negligence was not averred in the statement and such contention had not been previously made.</p>