Ohio Collieries Co. v. Cocke

107 Ohio St. (N.S.) 238
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 13, 1923
DocketNos. 17572 and 17408
StatusPublished

This text of 107 Ohio St. (N.S.) 238 (Ohio Collieries Co. v. Cocke) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ohio Collieries Co. v. Cocke, 107 Ohio St. (N.S.) 238 (Ohio 1923).

Opinion

Day, J.

In the case of Ohio Collieries Company v. Elizabeth Cocke the errors complained of in this record are six in number:

“(1) Error of the trial court in not separating and definitely stating the issues.

“(2) Error of the trial court in stating 'to the jury that a certain controverted fact had been proved.

“(3) Error of the trial court in charging the jury on the law of negligence.

“(4) Error of the trial court in charging the jury as to the measure of damages in subsidence cases.

“ (5) The excessive and unwarranted verdict not supported by the evidence, and due to the erroneous charge of the court.

“ (6) Error of the Court of Appeals in affirming the'judgment of the court of common pleas.”

As to the first ground of alleged error it is undoubtedly the rule of law in Ohio that it is the duty of the trial judge to separately and definitely state to the jury the issues of fact made in the pleadings, accompanied by such instructions as to each issue as the nature of the case may require. B. & O. Rd. Co. v. Lockwood, 72 Ohio St., 586, 74 N. E., 1071.

An examination of this charge discloses that the trial court substantially met this requirement. There were a number of minor issues between these parties, to-wit, the ownership of the land by the plaintiff, which was not more than formally denied by defendant, and the defendant substantially ad[244]*244mitted that it mined the eoal from under plaintiff’s premises, but claimed to have conducted its mining operations in the usual and ordinary way and by the usual and ordinary methods employed in such mining. The paramount issues of the case were whether or not the subsidence of plaintiff’s land and the incidental damages thereto had been occasioned by the manner in which the defendant conducted its operations, and, if such injury had been occasioned by the manner in which the defendant mined its coal, what damages did the plaintiff sustain in the premises by reason thereof, and what was the proper measure of damages? We think these paramount issues of fact between the parties were- fully set forth in the charge of the court, and that no prejudicial error intervened in not separating and more definitely stating the issues between the parties. The frequent use in the charge of the court of such expressions “as set out in the petition,” “as set out in this petition,’’ “as set out in her petition,” and other like allusions, did not, in our opinion, leave to the jury the duty of groping through the technical words of the pleadings to ascertain the matters of fact therein referred to, and, when taken in conjunction with the charge as a whole, we think the court stated the issues with sufficient definiteness to advise the jury what issues of fact they were to pass upon, and that no prejudicial error intervened in that regard.

The second error complained of is that the trial court told the jury that a certain controverted fact had been proved. In this regard the defendant claims that the petition alleged that the defendant was the owner of the coal, which allegation was de[245]*245nied in the answer, thus raising an issue of fact as to who was in truth the owner of the coal; the portion of the charge complained of being that wherein the court states:

“It is clear by the evidence that the defendants here own this coal.”

We do not believe that the defendant was prejudiced by this statement of the court, because, so far as the issues in this case are concerned, as the court in his charge says, the ownership by the defendant of the coal is not a matter of importance, it being practically conceded, although technically denied. The real issue in the case was what damages, if any, were due (the plaintiff by reason of the injury resulting to plaintiff because of the removal of that coal. Now, the trial court said that—

“The defendant * * * had the right to operate there, had the right )to remove all the coal from under the land; * * * but, while it had the right to remove this coal from under this land, it must exercise that right keeping in -mind the fact (that other persons own stratas of the surface above its coal land, and that they owe to those persons * # * the duty of seeing that their stratas are not destroyed by reason of their mining operations or their removal of coal.”

Plaintiff in error who was defendant below, claims that it was a question for the jury to say whether or not it owned the coal; but, in view of the fact that the ownership of the coal was not really a matter of as great importance in the case as the mining and removal thereof, we do not believe that prejudicial error intervened by the court saying thalt “it is clear by the evidence that the defendants here own this [246]*246coal, ’ ’ especially as we fail to find any testimony in the record offered by defendant upon that subject. The jury were bound to find for (the plaintiff upon that issue. Hence we decline to disturb this judgment upon that ground.

The third claimed error is in the charge of the court on the law of negligence.

Now, it cannot be denied that this was an acftion for damages sounding in tort, even though the owner of the surface has a right to its support in its natural condition, regardless of negligence in the mining. The petition of the plaintiff averred that—

“Defendant, in its said operation of the said coal from under plaintiff’s said lands, knowingly, willfully, wantonly, wrongfully, carelessly, and improperly conducted its said mining operations on plaintiff’s said lands in this, to-wit: That, after all the coal was mined except thait necessary for the support of the surface thereof as aforesaid, the defendant negligently, intentionally, and improperly removed all the pillars, ribs, stumps and supports for the surface of the same. That the defendant so excavated ithe earth and improperly removed said pillars,” etc.

The answer of defendant denied that “it wantonly, wrongfully, improperly, or negligently mined and removed the pillars,” etc.

Thus, the issue of negligence being squarely tendered by the pleadings, it was not improper for the court to adopt ¡the language of the pleadings and refer to the acts complained of by the terms employed by the parties themselves.

The definition of negligence given in 2 Cooley on Torts (3d Ed.), 1324, 1325, star page 752, is:

[247]*247“The failure to observe, for the protection of the interests of another person, that degree of care, precaution and vigilance which the circumstances justly demand, whereby such other person suffers injury.”

It was clearly the privilege of this coal company to remove the coal under the plaintiff’s land, but it was likewise equally its duty to remove that coal in such a manner as not to injure the property of the plaintiff; and, if there was a failure to observe that degree of care, precaution, and vigilance which the circumstances justly demanded, whereby the plaintiff suffered injury, such failure was in that sense a negligent act. The term as employed by the trial court in his charge, in the light of his instructions as to the privileges of both the plaintiff and the defendant in the premises, did not, in our judgment, work prejudicial error to the defendant below, and a reversal upon that ground must be denied.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
107 Ohio St. (N.S.) 238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ohio-collieries-co-v-cocke-ohio-1923.