14 F. 833 | U.S. Cir. Ct. | 1882
[orally.) We have carefully considered the motion to instruct the jury to find a verdict for defendant in this case. The main question is whether the engineer — runner, as he is termed, of this -engine-r-is a fellow-servant with the plaintiff in this case within the meaning of the rule, which asserts the principle that the master is not liable for an injury resulting to one servant from the negligence of a fellow-servant in the same line of employment. We are fully satisfied that he is a fellow-servant within the principle and meaning of the rule. We have no doubt on that point. We do not think Hough v. Railway Co. 100 U. S. 213, cited by the plaintiff, militates against that proposition. On the contrary, we think it is an authority directly in favor of defendant in this case. The court in that case recognizes the rule; it does not question it; it only notices the distinction which takes that case out of the rule. Mr. Justice HaRlan, in delivering the opinion, says that the English authorities go much further in favor of the doctrine of the immunity of the master from the responsibility for injuries received by a servant in consequence of the negligence of his fellow-servant in the same line of employment, than the American courts. But the decision in Hough v. Railway Co. is put upon another ground, namely: that the act complained of in that case was the act of the company itself. A corporation must always act through its agents. The rule is recognized that the company is bound to use all reasonable care and diligence in furnishing suitable and safe machinery for its servants to work with. In that case there was a violation of that rule. The defendant did not furnish a good and sufficient cowcatcher and steam-whistle. The accident occurred in consequence of the improper condition of the locomotive engine. The engine ran off 'the track by reason of a defective cow-catcher, and the steam-whistle was blown or knocked off in consequence of not being properly fast
But the foundation of this action is that the accident was the result of the carelessness of the man who was running the engine. Hó was not an agent of the company. He had no authority over the plaintiff. He was merely a workman running an engine under the direction of a chief engineer, a general foreman, and a superintendent of the mine. It was not his business to furnish the engine. He had no authority whatever. He was co-operating with plaintiff in sinking the shaft. He was simply a fellow-servant co-operating in sinking the shaft. We do not think it makes any difference whether he was running an engine, or working with a wheel and axle, a pulley and bucket, or carrying the material up and down a ladder upon his shoulders. He was doing the same -work, but doing it by different means. Every man below performed his part of the work in sinking the shaft — the wmrk in which they were all engaged. They were working together in the same department in excavating this shaft. The fact that the engine-runner, as he is called, was using a different instrument in carrying the material up and supplies down makes no difference. It was work done in a common employment to accomplish a common end — the sinking of a shaft. One servant performed one part, and another another part.
In the old Spanish mines, in early days, and even yet in some parts of Mexico and South America, the ore is carried in sacks upon the backs of men by climbing up and down ladders, instead of using
Again, in Kelly v. Norcross, 121 Mass. 508, the carpenters were charged with building a staging. The employers furnished suitable materials and 'committed the duty of building the staging to the carpenters, who had charge of the work themselves. The carpenters were superintending the construction of the staging, and the accident resulted from their negligence. An accident happened by which the staging fell and injured some of the laborers. They were held to be fellow-laborers within the rule.
In another case — Holden v. Fitchburg R. R. 129 Mass. 268 — the head-note reads:
• “ The rule of law that a servant cannot maintain an action against his master for an injury caused by the fault or negligence of a fellow-servant is not confined to the case of two servants working in company, or having opportunity to control or influence the conduct of each other, but extends to every case in which the two, deriving their authority and their compensation from the same source, are engaged in the same business, though in different departments of'duty; and it makes no difference that the servant whose negligence causes the injury is a sub-manager or foreman of higher or greater authority than the plaintiff.
*837 “A. railroad corporation is not liable to a brakeman on one of its trains for injuries suffered from the negligent setting up and use of a derrick by workmen employed in widening its railroad.”
In this case parties were employed in widening the road, and, for the purpose of performing that work, a derrick was erected. That is no part of the business of running a railroad. It is widening a road —enlarging its facilities. A train coming along, this derrick fell, and a brakeman passing this wreck was injured by a rope attached to the fallen derrick. He was engaged in running the train. The other men wore engaged in widening the road for the company. They were held to be follow-servants within the meaning of the rule. If they were so, these parties here must be fellow-workmen.
In Cooper v. Mil. & Pra. du C.R. Co. 23 Wis. 669, a flagman, who failed to properly notify the train of a break in the road, was held to he a fellow-servant with a brakeman on the train, killed in consequence of the negligence.
So, also, in a Wisconsin case, where a train went out to clear the track of snow. They liad a party- of snow-shovelers, designed to shovel snow off the road. The conductor concluded to clear the road at a certain point with a snow-plow. He made a rush into the snow with his snow-plow, and the result was that the train was thrown from the track. One of the snow-shoveling party, going to his work, was injured. The snow-shoveler injured was held to be a co-laborer in the same employment with the conductor, and the employer not liable on that ground. Howland v. Mil., L. S. & W. R. Co. 13 Reporter, 607; also see cases cited.
In Michigan, an engineer and conductor of freight trains are held to be fellow-servants. Mich. C. R. Co. v. Dolan, 32 Mich. 510.
In Collier v. Steinhart, 51 Cal. 117, it was held that the engineer running the engine to hoist water from a mine, by whose carelessness a tub of water foil upon a laborer at the bottom of the mine and injured him, was a fellow-servant with the party injured, within the rule.
So in McLean v. Blue Point Gravel Min. Co. Id. 257, McLean being in the hydraulic department, was injured by the carelessness of Regan, foreman in the Wasting department of the “general business.” McLean and Regan were held to be fellow-servants within the rule.
These are only a few of the many cases found in the books which illustrate this point. We do not find anything against it. The case
The next point is on the allegation in the complaint that the company employed an unskillful engineer. That allegation falls short of being sufficient. The company is not bound, under all circumstances, and at all events, to employ a skillful and competent engineer; it is only bound to exercise due diligence and care in that respect. It does not warrant that he shall be skillful, but it is bound to use due diligence in providing or employing a skillful and competent engineer. It may have fully performed that duty; if it did, it is not liable. There is no allegation that it did not exercise due diligence, or was negligent in this respect; but the fact only is alleged that the engineer was unskillful. Conceding it to be otherwise, there is no testimony here to show that this engine-runner was not a competent party; the only testimony is the fact that in this instance an accident happened. An accident may happen to the most competent and skillful man. He úiay have for years been without fault, and the fact that in this instance he was negligent is not inconsistent with the idea that he was generally a careful man, and entirely competent to perform the duties which he performed. And the mere fact of the single accident, although evidence of negligence in that particular instance, is not sufficient evidence, as held by many authorities, of incompetency, or that he is not a careful man. Quite a number of cases to that effect were cited on the argument, and none have been cited to the contrary.
In Wood v. Bedford Coal Co. 121 Mass. 252, it was alleged that defendant knowingly employed an incompetent engineer. The accident happened, yet the court says: “The declaration alleges as one ground of the defendant’s liability that it knowingly employed an unskillful and incompetent person as engineer. The plaintiff does not contend that there was any evidence to support this allegation.” Even counsel for plaintiff did not contend that the accident was evi-
Just so in this case. There is no evidence here upon this point.
Again, in the case of Kelley v. Norcross, before cited, where the staging fell, the accident happened, but the court said:
“ There was no evidence that the men were not in all respects competent workmen, or that the materials provided were unsuitable; and, without some such evidence, there was upon these points no question upon which the plaintiff was entitled to go to the jury. If there was neglect on the part of the carpenters, either in the construction of the staging or in leaving it, after it had been partially constructed, to be continued or completed by the masons, it was the neglect of the fellow-servants of the plaintiff’s intestate, who were competent to have properly performed the work.”
The mere fact of the negligence was held to be no evidence to go to the jury.
In Cooper v. Mil. & Pra. du C. Ry. Co. 33 Wis. 671, it was said:
“But all this is to no purpose, so long as it is not shown that the company, its officers or agents, were negligent in the employment of these persons, or in retaining them in its service. The negligence of the company, its officers or agents, in employing careless and unfit servants, is the gist of the action; and unless this be shown there can be no recovery. * * * Aside from the proof of negligence in the servants on the occasion in question, which is, clearly, not enough to charge the company, there is not the slightest evidence showing, or tending to show, negligence on the part of the company in the employment of those servants.”
This case is directly in point. These are only a few out of a great many eases deciding that question. There is not a particle of evidence, other than the fact of the accident, in this case that this engine-runner was not entirely competent, or that he was not a careful man. The testimony of the plaintiff shows that the engine-runner had been an engineer long before he went on this mine, and that plaintiff knew it.
The mere fact that he was negligent at this time is not sufficient evidence of his incompetency. There are numerous cases to the same point. There is no testimony sufficient to go to the jury to show his incompetency. And not only must it appear that he was not in fact incompetent, but also that the company did not uso duo care in employing him. If the allegation were sufficient, there is nothing to show on any of those points that the defendant is liable.
The only other point is as to whether there is anything to go to the jury upon the question of the bell. We are satisfied, on that
At the time of the accident it came down with great rapidity. The engineer did not even stop the engine when the cage reached the bottom, for there were some 40 feet of cable piled up on top of the cage. The testimony clearly shows, and there is nothing to the contrary, that the accident resulted purely and solely from the carelessness of the engineer in dropping the cage down at a rapid rate, without stopping or giving any notice-. The accident, therefore, resulted from the negligence of a co-laborer in that employment. If the jury were to find, upon such testimony, that the accident resulted from the absence of this bell, we should be compelled to set aside the verdict. We feel bound, therefore, under repeated rulings of the supreme court, to grant the motion, and we shall so instruct the jury.
Instruction and verdict accordingly.
Master’s Duty in Selection and Detention of Servants. A master is under no absolute obligation to employ only fit and competent servants, but he is bound to exercise reasonable or ordinary care to that end.
Who are Fellow-Servants. Upon this question there is no little difference of opinion among the authorities. The English doctrine, and that held by the weight of authority in this country, is, that all the servants of the same master, engaged in carrying forward the common enterprise, although in different departments, widely separated or strictly subordinated to others, are to be regarded as fellow-servants, bound by the terms of their employment to run the hazard of any negligence of any of their number, so far as it operates to their detrimeut.
Fellow-Servants, Although in Different Departments of Labor. “In order that workmen should bo fellow-servants,” said Lord Gran worth, in Bartonshill Coal Co. v. Reid,
Thus, in a recent case in the English court of appeals,
Even under the English doctrine, the remoteness of the duties performed is not wholly immaterial to the determination-of the question as to who are fellow-servants. Said Lord Justice CottoN, in Charles v. Taylor:
The converse of this proposition legitimately follows, and is sustained by some of the Amercan courts. The principle was thus stated by Hilly nit, J., in Kielley v. Belcher Silver Min. Co.,
There are other American courts that deny the English doctrine upon this point, but base their conclusion upon different grounds. It is said that the master’s exemption rests upon grounds of public policy — upon the expediency of throwing the risk of injury upon those who are best able to guard against the dangers. A master is not, therefore, liable for an injury inflicted by one servant upon another, where the two are co-operating with eacli other in a particular business at the time of the injury, or are, by their usual duties,
Fellow-Servants, although One is Subject to the Authority oe the Other. Said CookburN, O. J., in the case of Howells v. Zandore Steel Co.:
But this rule is not accepted, without modification, in this country. First. There are a number of authorities that hold that if the master has placed the entire charge of the business in the hands of an agent, exercising no authority and no superintendence of his own therein, such agent represents the master, and for his negligence the master is responsible to his servants.
Laning v. N. Y. Central, etc., R. Co. 49 N. Y. 621; Gilman y. Eastern R. Co. 13 Allen, 440; Smoot v. Mobile & M. Ry. Co. 67 Ala. 13; Moss v. Pacific R. Co. 49 Mo. 167; Gunter v. Graniteville Manuf’g Co. 15 S. C. 443.
As to bis duty in this respect, see note to O’Neil v. St. Louis, etc., R. Co. 9 Fed. Rep. 341.
Flike v. Boston, etc., R Co. 63 N. Y. 549, 553; Gilman v. Eastern R. Co. 13 Allen. 440; Quincy Mining Co. v. Kitts, 42 Mich. 34; Booth v. Boston, etc., R. Co. 73 N. Y. 38.
Shanny v. Androscoggin Mills, 66 Me. 418; Michigan, etc., R. Co. v. Dolan, 32 Mich. 510, 513. But see Chapman v. Erie R. Co. 55 N. Y. 579.
1 Bear. Railw. § 131.
Wilson v. Merry, L. R. 1 H. L.Sc. App. 326; Bartonshill Coal Co. v. Reid, 3 Macq. 295; Allen v. Gas Co. L. R. 1 Exch. Div. 251; Rourke v. White Moss Colliery Co. L. R. 1 Com. PI Div. 556; Railroad v. Fort, 17 Wall. 553; Blake v. Maine Cent. R. Co. 70 Me. 60; Albro v. Agawam Canal Co. 6 Cush. 75; Gilshannon v. Stony Brook R. R. 10 Cush. 228.
3 Macq. 295.
Lehigh Valley Coal Co. v. Jones, 86 Pa. St. 432.
Charles v. Taylor, 38 Law T. (N. S.) 773.
Compare Rourke v. White Moss Colliery Co.L. R. 1 Com. Pl. Div. 556.
Alhro v. Agawam Canal Co. 6 Cush. 75.
Halverson v. Misen, 3 Sawy. 562.
Lehigh Valley Coal Co. v. Jones, 86 Pa. St. 432.
Quincy Mining Co. v. Kitts, 42 Mich. 34.
Bartonshill Coal Co. v. Reid, 3 Macq. 266.
Hall v. Johnson, 3 Hurl. & C. 589.
Hard v. Vermont, etc., R. Co. 32 Vt. 473.
Gilshannon v. Stony Brook R. Co. 10 Cush. 228.
Foster v. Minnesota, etc., R. Co. 14 Minn. 360.
Seaver v. Boston, etc., R. Co. 14 Gray, 466.
Morgan v. Vale of Neath R. Co. L. R. 1 Q. B. 149.
Pittsburgh, etc., Ry. Co. v. Lewis, 33 Ohio St. 196.
Pittsburgh, etc., R. Co. v. Devinney, 17 Ohio St. 197.
Whaalen v. Mad River, etc., R. Co. 8 Ohio St. 249.
Howland v. Milwaukee, etc., Ry. Co. 51 Wis. 22l
38 Law T. (N. S.) 773, 775.
5 Dest & S. 570, 580; S. C. 33 Law J. (Q. B.) 260.
Baird v. Pettit, 70 Pa. St. 477, 482.
Baird v. Pettit, 70 Pa. St. 477, 482.
O’Donnell v. Allegheny, etc., R. Co. 59 Pa. St. 239,
Nashville, etc., R. Co. v. Carroll, 6 Heisk. 347.
Mullan v. Philadelphia, etc., S. S. Co. 78 Pa. St 25. Whether they were fellow-servants was a question for the jury.
Chicago, etc., R. Co. v. Moranda, 93 Ill. 302.
Ryan v Chicago, etc., R. Co. 60 Ill. 171.
Cooper v. Mullins, 30 Ga. 146; Louisville, etc., R. Co.v. Cavens, 9 Bush. 559; Nashville, etc. R. Co. v. Jones, 9 Heisk, (Tenn.) 27.
L. R. 10 Q. B. 62.
L. R. 1 H. L. Sc. App. 323.
Murphy v. Smith, 19 C. B. (N. S.) 361; Gallagher v. Piper, 16 C. B. (N. S.) 669; Zeigler v. Day, 123 Mass. 152; Marshall v. Schrieker, 63 Mo. 303; Lawler v. Androscoggin R. Co. 62 Me. 463; Peterson v. Whitebreast Coal & Mining Co. 50 Iowa, 673; O’Connell v. Baltimore, etc., R. Co. 20 Md. 212; Malone v. Hathaway, 64 N. Y. 5; Curran v. Merchants’ Manuf’g Co. 130 Mass. 374; McCosker v. Long Island R. Co. 84 N. Y. 77; Keystone Bridge Co. v. Newberry, 93 Pa. St. 246.
Lehigh Valley Coal Co. v. Jones, 86 Pa. St. 432; Mullan v. Philadelphia, etc., S. S. Co. 78 Pa. St. 25; Gormly v. Vulcan Iron Works, 61 Mo. 492; Kansas, etc., R. Co. v. Little, 19 Kan. 269; Malone Hathaway, 64 N. Y. 5; Beeson v. Green Mountain Gold Mining Co. 57 Cal. 20.
Lehigh Valley Coal Co. v. Jones, 86 Pa. St. 432; Howells v. Landore Steel Co. L. R. 10 Q. B. 62, Blackburn, J.; Allen v. New Gas Co. 1 Exch. Div. 251.
Little Miami R. Co. v. Stevens, 20 Ohio, 415; Pittsburgh, etc., Ry. Co. v. Devinney, 17 Ohio St. 197, 210; Knoxville Iron Co. v. Dodson, 7 Lea, (Term.) 367, 377. Compare Kumler v. Junction, etc.. R. Co. 33 Ohio St. 150.
Berea Stone Co. v. Kraft, 31 Ohio St. 287.
Cowles v. Richmond, etc., R. Co. 84 N. C. 309. Compare Pittsburgh, etc., Ry. Co. v. Lewis, 33 Ohio St. 126.
Kansas, etc., R. Co. v. Little, 19 Kan. 269.
Whalen v. Centenary Church, 62 Mo. 226.
Louisville, etc., R. Co. v. Bowler, 9 Heisk., (Tenn.) 866.
Chicago, etc., R. Co. v. Bayfield, 37 Mich 205.
Hofnagle v. New York, etc. R. Co. 55 N. Y. 668; Flike v. Boston, etc., R. Co. 53 N. Y. 519.
Fuller v. Jewett, 80 N. Y. 46; Booth v. Boston, etc. R. Co. 73 N. Y. 38; Wedgwood v. Chicago, etc., R. Co. 41 Wis. 478; Shanny v. Androscoggin Mills, 66 Me. 420.
Columbus, etc., R. Co. v. Arnold, 31 Ind. 174; Wonder v. Baltimore, etc., R. Co. 32 Md. 411; Harrison v. Central R. Co. 31 N. J. Law, 293; Waller v. Southeastern R. Co. 2 Hurl. & C. 102;
Long v. Pacific Railroad, 65 Mo. 225.
Darkin v. Sharp, 88 N. Y. 225.
Murphy v. Bouton, etc., R. Co. 88 N. Y. 146.