Presley v. Actus Coal Company

289 S.W. 474, 172 Ark. 498, 1927 Ark. LEXIS 5
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 10, 1927
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 289 S.W. 474 (Presley v. Actus Coal Company) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Presley v. Actus Coal Company, 289 S.W. 474, 172 Ark. 498, 1927 Ark. LEXIS 5 (Ark. 1927).

Opinion

Wood, J.

This is an action by the administrator of the estate of F. S. Bratcher, deceased, against the Actus Coal Company, to recover damages for the benefit of the estafe and next of kin of F. O. Bratcher. For his cause of action the plaintiff alleged that the defendant is an Arkansas corporation engaged in the mining of coal; that Bratcher was an employee of the defendant; that, acting under the orders and directions of its agents and servants, Bratcher was driving a mule pulling coal from the rooms in the mine out to the parting, where the cars were picked up and carried to the top of the mine by electric power; “that the defendant, its agents and servants in authority, negligently and carelessly failed to furnish Bratcher a reasonably safe place in which to work, in that it negligently and carelessly failed to furnish and keep in repair a suitable and proper transformer to reduce the current of electricity to proper voltage on light wire and to keep a switch at or near said parting in a known and convenient place, so that' electric power could be turned off; that the defendant negligently and carelessly failed to keep said wire on said parting, which wire furnished electricity for said light on said parting, properly insulated and the current properly reduced; that, on the second day of December, 1924, without fault or carelessness on the part of Bratcher, he, while in the discharge of his duty, came in contact with a live wire on said parting, which wire was made alive by reason of insufficient insulation, and which wire carried a very heavy and excessive and unnecessary voltage of electricity, transferring same to the body of Bratcher, seriously and painfully torturing and burning him, from which effect he died, to plaintiff’s damage .for the benefit of the estate in the sum of $25,000, and to plaintiff’s damage for the benefit of Bratcher’s wife and minor child in the sum of $34,500. Plaintiff therefore prayed judgment in the aggregate sum of $59,500.

The plaintiff alleged that Bratcher died intestate, leaving a widow and minor son, and that plaintiff was the duly appointed administrator of Bratcher’s estate.

In the answer of the defendant all the material allegations of the complaint are denied, and, for affirmative defenses, the defendant sets up that Bratcher had assumed the risk and was guilty of contributory negligence. The answer admits that the defendant is a corporation and that plaintiff was the duly appointed and acting administrator of the estate of Bratcher, deceased.

The undisputed testimony shows that Bratcher was killed while working in a coal mine operated, by the defendant on December 2, 1924. He was killed by coming in contact with a live electrinlight wire which carried two hundred and fifty volts of electricity.

John Elliott, one of the witnesses for the plaintiff, testified in substance that he assisted in putting up the wire, which was new when installed, and which had been in use three months at the time of Bratcher’s injury. At the time it was installed it was properly insulated. He had not recently inspected it. He did not see Bratcher until he was dead. He had to go 600 feet from the place where Bratcher was killed to turn off the current. • The current could have been turned off instantly if a switch had been at the No. 3 parting, the accident occurring on the main slope. Bratcher must have had his fingers a-hold of the light socket, as the globe was broken in some manner. There was no switch on the main wire, where the light wire turned off from it. Bratcher was lying on the track, both hands and the light bulb under him. The light bulb was in the socket that morning, but was burned out.

Gene Newman was with Bratcher when witness took Bratcher loose from the wire. The wire came from the main wire around Bratcher’s back and under him. Witness was about five minutes getting to him after he received information that he was injured. Bratcher was about five or six feet high. He might have touched the wire. It was away from the track he had crossed to pull the coal from the parting. Bratcher and Gene Newman worked together. Bratcher had to pull past the place to get to the parting, but did not have to go under it. Bratcher was supposed to be at the parting at 7:30 a. m., and he was killed at 2 p. m., after he had made more than a dozen trips back and forth from the parting. The mules turned in about five feet of the light or near, at times. On other occasions they turned about ten feet away. In the morning Bratcher would have to go under the light with the mules. Witness did not know how the wire happened to be down. The globe was in the socket that morning. Witness found the socket with the outside gone and the inside intact.

Gene Newman was the only eye witness to the injury. He testified that Bratcher hollered out, .saying, “Knock me loose.” Witness looked, and.Bratcher’s hands were up a-hold of the wire two feet from the light globe. Witness knocked the wire down, and Bratcher fell with both hands under him, across the track, with the wire wrapped around his body. The closest switch was 200 feet. away. Elliott turned off the current from five' to eight minutes after Bratcher was struck. Miners had to pass under this light and wire in a stooped position.

Sam Settles testified that he was an electrician. A wire properly insulated, according to his testimony, carrying 250 volts, would not electrocute a person coming in contact with it. If Bratcher came in contact with the wire and was electrocuted, the insulation was not proper. The power could be cut off instantly with a switch. If Bratcher was electrocuted, he stuck to the wire because the insulation was not proper. Two hundred and fifty volts passing over a properly insulated wire would not electrocute a person and would not fasten a person taking hold of a light bulb. Witness could not crush with his fingers a bulb of the kind exhibited if it were properly screwed into the socket. If a party broke the globe and got his hands against the small wires, he could not get loose. One hundred and ten volts might kill — had been known to kill.

Roberts testified .that it was customary for the miners to work along under the light. They were right there together any time the empties were on the track. The drivers, in order to get loads out, had to go right under the wire. The workers went back under the wire to get water to drink. They could stoop around the other way and not go under the wire, but it was the usual thing for them to go under the wire. The company had not given Bratcher any orders not to pass under the wire. They had given no instructions that there was any danger lurking around the wire or light bulbs. The ground under the lamp was damp. The light globe had been out a week. Witness saw nothing in Bratcher’s hand. If witness had not known the wire to be there, he would not have seen it in passing under it.

One of the witnesses testified that the men working in the mine turned off from the main entry a short distance from the light. They passed on into the entry under the wife across the parting, the only way they could go. There was testimony tending to show that the light was put where it was for the engine at the hoist and for the convenience of the drivers.

One of the witnesses for the defendant testified that he saw the burns on Bratcher’s hands, and it looked as *if he had caught hold of something. The globe was broken off in the socket at the time the witness saw Bratcher.

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Bluebook (online)
289 S.W. 474, 172 Ark. 498, 1927 Ark. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/presley-v-actus-coal-company-ark-1927.