Ft. Wayne Gas Co. v. Nieman

71 N.E. 59, 33 Ind. App. 178, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 186
Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided May 18, 1904·No. No. 4,748·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

Robinson, J.

Suit for personal injuries. It is first argued that the demurrer should have been sustained to the third paragraph of complaint. This paragraph of complaint avers that appellant, on June 25, 1901, was engaged in the manufacture and sale of gas, and had a system of pipes in the streets, with a main pipe about two and a half feet underground in Superior street, from which service-pipes ran to the houses of the consumers; that a contractor Was constructing a sewer parallel with this main pipe along Superior street at a depth of about twenty feet, over which sewer was built a tramway upon which was run a tram-car, operated by a cable; that in making the sewer excavation a service gas-pipe became disconnected from the main pipe, to repair which appellant sent a number of men, including appellee, who was, and had been for many years, a laborer and employe in appellant’s service; that the employes removed the earth from the service-pipe up to the main pipe, and were about to repair the break, “when Samuel Gordon, the foreman of said defendant, arrived, and took charge [180] and direction of the manner of making said repairs;” that the foreman directed appellee with another workman to take a fourteen-foot plank, which he pointed out to them, and with the same to make a brace or lever by placing the lower end under a piece of heavy timber in the sewer, and directed and ordered them to extend into the sewer one end of the plank, and press it upon the timber, and then bring it down to the disconnected service-pipe, which had been bent upwards, and then and there carelessly and negligently directed them to pull down upon the plank so as to press the service-pipe into position; that to do so it was necessary for appellee and his co-laborer to take hold of the upper end of the plank, with their faces to the west, and to pull down, which orders and directions they then complied with, “said plaintiff knowing at the time that the tram-car had been running upon said tramway,” but, having been directed by the foreman to take the position and make the repairs as alleged, “he relied upon the fact, as fact it was, that said foreman, standing as he then was, about four feet to the south of said sewer upon the surface, and having a full view of the tram-car, that he, said foreman, would then and there with such opportunities warn said plaintiff of any danger from any approaching car on said tramway;”' that while pulling down on the plank as directed, with his face westward, the upper end of the plank extending upwards six or seven feet, without his knowledge, and he not knowing, and by reason of the presence of the foreman not believing, any cár Was approaching, a car approached rapidly from the east and struck the plank, throwing appellee into the-sewer and injuring him; that the foreman, by the exercise of ordinary care, could have seen the approaching car in time to have warned appellee of any danger, but, having such opportunity to warn appellee, carelessly and negligently failed so to do, and without any warning the car struck the plank.

The language of this paragraph suggests that it was [181] intended to be brought under the employers’ liability act. It is argued that this paragraph of complaint is bad for failure to aver that appellant is a corporation. The employers’ liability act (§7083 Burns 1901) has application, aside from railroads, only where the party charged with negligence is a corporation. That act applies to “every railroad or other corporation, except municipal, * * * Second. "Where such injury resulted from the negligence of any person in the service of such corporation, to whose order or direction the injured employe at the time of the injury was bound to conform, and did conform.” The statute makes no distinction as to the business in which the “corporation” is engaged, and it is assumed in the case at bar (see Hodges v. Standard Wheel Co., 152 Ind. 680; Pittsburgh, etc., R. Co. v. Montgomery, 152 Ind. 1, 71 Am. St. 300) that the legislature may impose a liability where the business is conducted by a corporation, and impose none where the same business is not so conducted. But it is manifest there is no liability under the statute unless the offending party is a railroad or other corporation; that is, in this case, unless the offending party is a corporation. The act gives no right of action to the employe of a firm or án individual.

In the third paragraph of complaint the appellant is sued as the Ft. Wayne Gas Company. While appellant would not be liable under the' statute unless at the time of the alleged injury it was a corporation, yet we see no sufficient reason for not applying the rule that “the name of the defendant imports that it is a corporation, and it was, therefore, not necessary to specifically aver that it w'as a corporation.” Adams Express Co. v. Harris, 120 Ind. 73, 7 L. R. A. 214, 16 Am. St. 315; Indianapolis Sun Co. v. Horrell, 53 Ind. 527.

Conceding it is sufficiently shown that Gordon was a foreman, there is no averment that he had any authority to give orders, nor is it shown that to liis orders appellee at [182] the time was bound to conform. Designating Gordon as a foreman may show that he stood toward appellee in the relation of superior in the employ of the company, but it does not necessarily show that lie had authority to order appellee to do anything. There is nothing in the pleading, aside from the fact that Gordon was foreman, to show what his authority was, or that any authority had been conferred on him by appellant. The rule is settled in this State that a foreman, “except where the master’s duties are delegated to him,” is a fellow servant. See Capper v. Louisville, etc., R. Co., 103 Ind. 305; Peirce v. Oliver, 18 Ind. App. 87; Ross v. Union Cement, etc., Co., 25 Ind. App. 463; Standard Cement Co. v. Minor, 27 Ind. App. 479; American Tel., etc., Co. v. Bower, 20 Ind. App. 32; Pittsburgh, etc., R. Co. v. Adams, 105 Ind. 151. The fact that Gordon took charge and direction of the manner of making the repairs, and gave orders to the men as to the manner of doing the work, does not supply the place of an averment that he had authority to do so.

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Ft. Wayne Gas Co. v. Nieman, 71 N.E. 59, 33 Ind. App. 178, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 186 (Ind. Ct. App. 1904).

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