Caldwell v. Brown

53 Pa. 453
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania·Decided January 7, 1867·Published·Cited by 19 cases

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered, by

Read, J.

In Gilman v. Eastern Railroad Corporation, 10 Allen 233, Judge Gray said : “ The case presented by this report is to be determined by the application of rules now too well established to require an elaborate statement of the reasons on which they are founded or an extended examination of the authorities by which they are supported.

“ A servant by entering into his master’s service assumes all the risks of that service which the master cannot control, including those arising from the negligence of his fellow-servants. In case of an injury to one servant by the negligence of another, it is immaterial whether he who causes and he who sustains the injury are or not engaged in the same or similar labor, or in positions of equal grade or authority. If they are acting together under one master in carrying out a common object, they are fellow-servants. The master indeed is bound to use ordinary care in providing suitable structures, engines, tools and apparatus, and in selecting proper servants, and is liable to other servants in the same employment if they are injured by his own neglect of duty. But it makes no difference whether the master is an individual or a corporation; in either case he is responsible to his servants for his own negligence, but not for that of their fellow-servants.”

The learned judge then cites the leading cases in his own state and in New York, and the authoritative decisions in the House of Lords, as establishing this to be the law of England, Scotland and in two of the great commercial states of our Union.

There are two late cases in the Exchequer Chamber, decided during 1865, affirming this doctrine in its fullest extent. In Hall v. Johnson, 34 L. J. Exch. 222, Chief Justice Erie said on the 8th of February: “ We take the principle to be established from a series of decisions in this empire and in America (decisions collected with great skill and clearness by Mr. Manley Smith, in his book on Master and Servant), that where a laborer is damaged by the negligence of a fellow-laborer the master is not responsible:" Smith on Master and Servant, 2d ed. p. 134, &c.; and in Morgan v. The Vale of Neath Railway Co., 35 L. J. Q. B. 23, on appeal from the Court of Queen’s Bench, on the 27th November, the same doctrine is enunciated by Lord Chief Justice Erie and Lord Chief Baron Pollock, delivering the unanimous opinion of the Exchequer Chamber. In this case the case of Gilshannon v. The Stony Brook Railroad Corporation, 10 Cush[457]*457ing’s Rep. 228, is cited at some length in a note. See also Bottomley v. Brooks, August 1866, Nisi Prius, by Mr. Justice Lush, 15 L. T. R. N. S. 19 ; Warburton v. Great Western Railway Co., 15 L. T. N. S. 361, Exch., decided 17th November 1866. The same rule is laid down in all the late cases in the Court of Appeals of New York: Coon v. Syracuse Railroad Co., 5 N. Y. 492 ; Russell v. Hudson Railroad Co., 17 Id. 134; Shuman v. Syracuse and Rochester Railroad Co., Id. 153 ; Boldt v. New York Central Railroad Co., 18 Id. 432; Wright v. Same, 25 Id. 562. And the commissioners of the Code, in their 9th report of the Civil Code of the state of New York, p. 307, § 1006, embody these authorities in that section: “ An employer is not bound to indemnify the employee for losses suffered by the latter, in consequence of the ordinary risks of the business in which he is employed, nor in consequence of the negligence of another person employed by the same employer in the same general business, unless he has neglected to use ordinary care in the selection of the culpable employee.” This is the rule in Pennsylvania as well as in many other states: Ryan v. Cumberland Valley Railroad Co., 11 Harris 384; Frazier v. Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 2 Wright 104; Catawissa Railroad Co. v. Armstrong, 13 Id. 194; O’Donnell v. Allegheny Railroad Co., 14 Id. 490. See Hayden v. Smithville Manufacturing Co., 29 Conn. 557; Mannville v. The Cleveland and Toledo Railroad Co., 11 Ohio (N. S.) 407; Illinois Central Railroad Co. v. Cox, 21 Ill. 38 e ; Moss v. Johnson, 22 Id. 633 ; Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Co. v. Tindall, 13 Ind. 366 ; Wilson v. Madison, &c., Railroad Co., 18 Id. 226.

The damages to be recovered in case of death by negligence are the pecuniary loss sustained by the parties entitled to maintain the action: Penna. Railroad Co. v. Zebe, 9 Casey 330 ; Same v. Vandever, 12 Id. 298; Same v. Catharine Henderson, 1 P. F. Smith 315.

The 1st and 5th errors assigned arise from a misconception of the settled law of the land, that the master is not liable to an employee for the negligence of a co-employee; and of course that the parents of the deceased have no cause of action against the defendants for the loss of the services of their minor son upon that ground. The deceased was a minor son of the plaintiff, and worked at a large rolling-mill of the defendants, at a furnace assigned him, in close proximity to the boiler Avhich furnished the motive power to run the nail factory. When the works started on the morning of the 9th December 1862, Daniel (the decedent) was at his post as usual. They had gone however but a few minutes when this boiler exploded with fearful noise and violence ; several persons were injured, but Daniel was the only one killed. This action was brought against the owners of the mill by his [458]*458parents. The first ground alleged to entitle them to recover we have already disposed of.

There was clearly no errbr in the answer to the 3d point, which is the 1st error assigned, nor in the answer to the 4th point, which is the 2d error assigned; so in the 4th error, upon the subject of its being caused by the negligence of the party killed, it is clear the court were right in saying, if such were the case, there could be no recovery. The language quoted in this assignment of error is a general statement of the law in the opening of the charge ; but in justice to the court, the subsequent part of it, applying it to the case in hand, should have been also stated. “ It has been faintly pressed by the defendants, that'the boy himself was guilty of such rashness and negligence to his own safety, as at least to bring him within the principle of concurring negligence in two particulars.” The second of which was: “That the fire in the heating furnace of the nail factory was under the control of the boy — was on that occasion excessive, and added to the danger.”

“ As to the second, the jury will decide how the fact was. It is probable that you may arrive at the conclusion that the fire in the heating furnace had nothing, or very trifling effect in causing the explosion. However, if you think you have evidence to satisfy you that it was partially the cause, and that the boy was thus in fault, plaintiffs cannot recover. It seems to me the evidence is very slight to warrant'the conclusion ; but this is left to the jury.” In all this what have the plaintiffs to complain of?

It was argued by the plaintiffs that the knowledge and acts of the manager or superintendent were the knowledge and acts of the defendants, and the court so instructed the jury; and of this instruction no one except the defendants had any cause to complain. The court went certainly as far as they were asked to go, although there are authorities which do not seem to warrant it. In Albro v. Agawam Canal Co., 6 Cush.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Caldwell v. Brown, 53 Pa. 453 (Pa. 1867).

53 Pa. 453 (Caldwell v. Brown) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Imblum v. Banzhoff
13 Pa. D. & C.4th 631 (Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas, 1992)
Kemmerer v. Reading Co.
64 Pa. D. & C. 433 (Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas, 1948)
Frantz Et Ux. v. Gower
180 A. 716 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1935)
Curtis v. Campbell
76 F.2d 84 (Third Circuit, 1935)
Gaydos v. Domabyl
152 A. 545 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1930)
Neary v. Georgia Public Service Co.
107 S.E. 893 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1921)
Gross v. Westinghouse Airbrake Co.
70 Pa. Super. 260 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1918)
McFarland v. Oregon Electric Ry. Co.
138 P. 458 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1914)
Deninger et ux. v. American Locomotive Co.
185 F. 22 (Third Circuit, 1911)
Birmingham Railway, Light & Power Co. v. Baker
49 So. 755 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1909)
Palmer v. Philadelphia, Baltimore & Washington Railroad
66 A. 1127 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1907)
Scofield v. Pennsylvania Co.
149 F. 601 (U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Western Pennsylvania, 1906)
Esher v. Mineral Railroad & Mining Co.
28 Pa. Super. 393 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1905)
Levy v. Rosenblatt
21 Pa. Super. 543 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1902)
Elliott v. Felton
119 F. 270 (Sixth Circuit, 1902)
Reese v. Clark
47 A. 994 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1901)
Wischam v. Rickards
20 A. 532 (Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, 1890)
Agricultural & Mechanical Ass'n v. State ex rel. Carty
18 A. 37 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1889)
Hoffman v. Clough
17 A. 19 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1889)