Loescher v. Consolidated Coal Co.

173 Ill. App. 526, 1912 Ill. App. LEXIS 449
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 7, 1912
StatusPublished

This text of 173 Ill. App. 526 (Loescher v. Consolidated Coal Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Loescher v. Consolidated Coal Co., 173 Ill. App. 526, 1912 Ill. App. LEXIS 449 (Ill. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Shirley

delivered the opinion of the court.

This cause was submitted to a jury on the second count of appellee’s declaration which charged that appellant was operating a coal mine; that among its entries were the main north and first west leading therefrom, that each contained hauling roads; that the road in the first west entry connected with the road in the main north and that they were used by men, mules and cars in the operation of said mine; that appellee was in the employ of appellant; that it became his duty to drive a mule in hauling dirt, rock and other substances from the first west to a certain third east entry and in doing so he was required to pass over the hauling road in said first west entry and thence on the hauling road in the main north, and thence over that to the road to the third east-; that appellant negligently suffered a water ear to be and remain on the road in said main north entry at a point where it knew, or could have known by the exercise of due care, that appellee was required to pass in hauling said material; that while appellee was driving a mule hitched to two loaded cars near said water car, and in the exercise of due care and without notice of the existence of said car, his mule saw the car and' turned from the track whereupon appellee, fearing injury to himself if he remained on said car, jumped therefrom with due care and was thereby thrown to the track and his hand was run over, cut and mashed by one of said cars, and he was permanently injured, etc.

There was no conflict in the testimony. Appellee who was employed in the mine of appellant on the evening of the accident which resulted in his injuries, was directed by his superior, the pit boss, to hitch a mule to two empty cars, and go to an entry called the “first west off the north” and load them with dirt. The mule was hitched to the front car by a tail chain about five feet long fastened to the car at one end and to the mule’s harness at the other end. After hitching the mule, appellee with four other men who went along to load the cars, went into the first west entry about three hundred and fifty feet off the main north where the cars were loaded, and appellee started out with his trip. One of the loaders was riding on top of the dirt on the first car and the other three were riding on the second car. As they came out of the entry appellee was riding on the front end of the front car next the mule with his feet dangling. No lines were used on the mule and he was driven and governed by the driver’s, voice. If the mule was to stop the driver would say “whoa” and put his hands on the mule’s hips. As appellee came round the curve leading out of the first west towards and near its junction with the main north, he saw some one flagging him with a lamp to stop. The light was about fifteen feet in front of him when he first saw it. The man flagging was at the water car standing on the track in the main north entry at a point just beyond where the track out of the first west intersected it. Appellee did not see the water car in the darkness but the mule coming to it turning out off the track, and the flagging apprised him there was an obstacle in front, and becoming alarmed he jumped from the car. The mule after turning out, turned clear around just as appellee jumped and shoved him under the front car where the hind wheel passed over his hand. The water car was not at that place on the track when appellee went into the first west after his loads, and he had no knowledge of its presence there when he came out.

It is first insisted that if appellee’s injury was the result of any negligence other than his own, it was that of fellow-servants, and as the testimony was undisputed, that the question was one of law for the court and it was error hot to direct a verdict for appellant.

Appellant had a class of labor called company work which was performed during the night time so as not to interfere with the operation of the mine during the day in mining and hoisting coal.

In this work appellant employed a number of men among whom was appellee, and the work consisted in repairing, tracks, sprinkling entries, hauling dirt, etc. In the distribution of the work to be done the night boss who had supervision of all the men so engaged would separate them into gangs to perform the various kinds of work and distribute them in various parts of the mine. On this occasion appellee and the four men with him were placed in one gang to load and haul dirt and debris in the manner and from the place already described. Another gang consisting of two persons were detailed to take the water car and sprinkle the roads of the mine which included the road appellee was required to drive over. Neither gang had any connection with or anything to do with the performance of the duties of the other; each gang performing its own duties entirely distinct from the other.

Fellow-servants are defined to be servants of the same master who are directly co-operating with each other in the particular business in hand, or whose usual duties bring them into habitual association so they may exercise ah influence upon each other pro-motive of proper caution. C. & N. W. R. R. Co. v. Moranda, 93 Ill. 302; Same v. Snyder, 117 Ill. 376; Coal Co. v. Holenquist, 152 Ill. 591.

It is not claimed that appellee and those operating the water car were directly co-operating with each other in the particular business, but it is said they were a body of men whose general duties were to keep the mine in condition; that they were co-operating to the same purpose and that there was a code of signals in the mine used to avoid collisions. Notwithstanding the general purpose, appellee had nothing whatever to do with the water car or its operation and there was no habitual association among them in the performance of their several duties when divided into gangs, whereby each might have an influence upon the other promotive of proper caution, so as to bring them within the second branch of the rule defining fellow j^P.'TVfl.TlfiS

In C. & A. R. R. Co. v. Kelly, 127 Ill. 644, it was said “That in order to constitute servants of the same master fellow-servants within the rule respondeat superior, it is not enough they are engaged in doing parts of the same work or in the promotion of some enterprise carried on by the master not requiring cooperation nor to bring the servants together or into such personal relations that they can exercise an influence upon each other promotive of proper caution in respect of their mutual safety, but it is essential they shall be at the time of the injury directly co-operating in the particular business in hand or that their mutual duties shall bring them into habitual consociation so that they may exercise an influence upon each other promotive of proper caution.” To the same effect is Rolling Mill Co. v. Johnson where it was also said: ‘' The relations of the servants must be such that each as to the other by the exercise of ordinary caution can either prevent or remedy the negligent acts of the other or protect himself against its consequences.”

The evidence did not as a matter of law bring appellee and those who controlled and operated the water car within the rule of fellow-servants.

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Related

Wesley City Coal Co. v. Healer
84 Ill. 126 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1876)
Chicago & Northwestern Railroad v. Moranda
93 Ill. 302 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1879)
Chicago and Northwestern Railway Co. v. Snyder
7 N.E. 604 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1886)
Dunham Towing & Wrecking Co. v. Dandelin
143 Ill. 409 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1892)

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Bluebook (online)
173 Ill. App. 526, 1912 Ill. App. LEXIS 449, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/loescher-v-consolidated-coal-co-illappct-1912.