Browne v. King

100 F. 561, 40 C.C.A. 545, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4290
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedMarch 5, 1900
DocketNo. 1,300
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 100 F. 561 (Browne v. King) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Browne v. King, 100 F. 561, 40 C.C.A. 545, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4290 (8th Cir. 1900).

Opinion

■ROGERS, District Judge,

after stating tlie case as above, delivered the opinion of the court.

Under the settled law in the federal courts, the plaintiff in error (hereafter called the plaintiff) and Daniel Hanefin were undoubtedly fellow servants, in a general sense. Railroad v. Baugh, 149 U. S. 368, 13 Sup. Ct. 914, 37 L. Ed. 772; Coal Co. v. Johnson, 6 C. C. A. 148, 56 Fed. 810. But an employé may occupy the double relation of a fellow servant and vice principal at one and the same time. He may be a fellow servant in a general sense, and a vice-principal for the performance of some special duty confided to him by the master. Fones v. Phillips, 39 Ark. 17; City of Minneapolis v. Lundin, 7 C. C. A. 344, 58 Fed. 525. One question here is whether the allegations of the complaint are sufficient (for the demurrer admits they are true) to show that Daniel Hanefin was a vice principal of the defendants as to the particular duty, alleged, to wit, “to look out for and guard against missed shots, and, after the explosion of any drill holes, to examine or cause to be examined the said drill boles, and ascertain whether any shots had missed or failed to explode, and, in case any such shots had missed or failed to explode, to remove or cause to be removed the powder therefrom, or, at least, to notify the men working in the vicinity of the same” before permitting them to resume the use of the drill. If Hanefin was a vice principal in this respect, then the law which imposes the duty upon the master to exercise ordinary care to furnish the servant a. safe place to work devolved on him, and the master cannot' avoid the responsibilities for his neglect to perform such duties. This principle is famliar, and is also settled in the federal courts. City of Minneapolis v. Lundin, 7 C. C. A. 344, 58 Fed. 525; Mining Co. v. Ingraham, 17 C. C. A. 71, 70 Fed. 219. But, while it is the duty of the master to exercise ordinary care to furnish the servants a safe place in which to work, there is an exception to that rule as well established as the rule itself, namely, that, where the work which the servant is employed to perform is such work as necessarily involves the constant change of the place where the work is ro be done; or, to state it more concisely, where the work the servant undertakes to do involves the constant change of the place where he does the work, then the servant assumes the risk necessarily or ordinarily incident to such changes. Railway Co. v. Jackson, 12 C. C. A. 507, 65 Fed. 48; City of Minneapolis v. Lundin, 7 C. C. A. 344, 58 Fed. 525.

The complaint in this case is unnecessarily “prolix, and the facts by no means clearly or consecutively stated. It is to some extent-susceptible of different, constructions. Recognizing and keeping in mind the principles decided in the cases above cited, in our opinion the decision in this case depends upon the proper construction to be placed upon the complaint. If the “missed shot” which exploded and injured the plaintiff was planted either by defendants or their other employós, and an effort had been made to explode it and other [566]*566shots at the same time, some of which did explode, and covered up the “missed shot” with rock and other matter thrown up by the shots which exploded, and all this occurred before Hanefin and Browne began work in the shaft where the injury occurred, and Browne was set to work in the shaft without being warned, and ignorant of the fact that no examination had been made for “missed shots”; or if Hanefin assisted in planting, or planted, the “missed shot,” and attempted to explode it and others at the same time, some of which did explode, and, in the way above stated, concealed the “missed shot,” and it was the duty of Hanefin, after such explosion of shots, to examine for “missed shots,” and, if any were found, to remove the powder, or notify other employés of their existence, and he neglected this duty, and- Browne, being ignorant of that neglect, was afterwards set to work at the place where he was injured; or if Hanefin, having made examination, found, or knew of the “missed shot,” and Browne did not, and it was his duty to notify Browne, or remove the powder therefrom, and Hanefin neglected to-notify the plaintiff of the danger, and «he was ignorant of Hanefin’s neglect of duty when he began to work; or if Hanefin did not assist in planting, nor plant the shots himself, but knew that shots had been fired in the shaft in question, and that no examination had been made for “missed shots,” and it was Hanefin’s duty to make such examinations, and, if “missed shots” were found, to clean the powder therefrom, or notify Browne, and he failed to discharge these duties, and afterwards Browne was set to work in the shaft, Browne being ignorant of the fact that no examination had been made for “missed shots,” — then, we think, in either of the events stated, a good cause of action existed. But if the “missed shot” by which plaintiff was injured was planted there by Hanefin and Browne, in the progress of work which they, as fellow servants, had jointly undertaken to perform, and after they attempted to explode the “missed shot” ,and others at the samq time some had exploded-and concealed the one by which plaintiff was injured, and they returned to the use of the drill without making a search for “missed shots,” and Browne was injured in the manner alleged, then we are of the opinion that no cause of action existed.

' There are some allegations in the complaint from which inferences more or less remote might be drawn sustaining either proposition. We have concluded, however, after a careful analysis of the complaint, that, if the facts had warranted it, the draftsman would not have left, either unstated or in any uncertainty, the facts essential to take the case out of the exception to the rule above stated, and bring it clearly within the general rule stated above, which rule is familiar and well settled in all the courts, both.state and federal.

There is no allegation in this complaint by which the court can tell with any reasonable certainty who planted the “missed shot” by the explosion of which plaintiff was jnjured. It is, however, entirely consistent with all the allegations in the complaint that it was planted by plaintiff and Henefin on the very day it exploded, and in the pursuit of the very work they were employed to perform. Indeed, there are allegations in the complaint from which it clearly appears [567]*567that the explosion of shots had occurred after the plaintiff began work, for he alleges in the complaint "that it was never at any time the duty of this plaintiff to examine as to missed holes or missed shots, except when so ordered to do by the machine runners notifying him that a missed shot had occurred, and to look out for it.” But, if no shots had been exploded after Browne began work, and before the one which injured him, he could not have been- called upon by the drill runners to examine for “missed holes” or “missed shots.”

The complaint also contains this allegation:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
100 F. 561, 40 C.C.A. 545, 1900 U.S. App. LEXIS 4290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/browne-v-king-ca8-1900.