Bunt v. Sierra Butte Gold Min
| Decision Date | 02 March 1891 |
| Citation | 11 S.Ct. 464,34 L.Ed. 1031,138 U.S. 483 |
| Parties | BUNT et al. v. SIERRA BUTTE GOLD MIN. Co., Limited |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
S. F. Leib, for plaintiffs in error.
Thos. B. Bsho p and W. W. Morrow, for defendant in error.
This was an action brought against a corporation of Great Britain by the widow and daughter of William J. Bunt, Citizens of California, to recover damages, under section 377 of the California Code Civil Proc., for his death by the defendant's negligence while a workman in its mine. The answer alleged, among other things, that his death was caused by his own negligence, and not by any negligence on the part of the defendant. At the trial, the only witnesses called by the plaintiffs (except in proof of their relationship to the deceased, and of his death) were the superin tendent of the mine and a fellow-workman of the deceased, whose testimony tended to prove the following facts: While Bunt and three others, all four experienced miners, were in a tunnel in the rock of the defendant's mine, 3,500 feet from its mouth, the superintendent came in, and discovered, by looking at the roof of the tunnel, and by sounding it with a pick, that it had been shattered by blasting further in; and told the men to prop it up with timbers from that point to the end. There was already a post of timber at that point, which had been put there only to hold the 'spiling.' or pieces of wood extending along the sides of the tunnel to keep back the 'gouge or selvage of the vein clay and slimy stuff.' The superintendent told the men that they had better put a post by the side of this one; but, on one of the men suggesting that this should be taken out and another put in its place, left it optional with them to do so or not, saying: Bunt and the other workmen decided that it would be safe to take out the post and did so, intending to go outside to get other timber. After the removal of the post, Bunt sat down to rest under the shattered roof, and part of the rock fell upon and mortally injured him. At the close of the plaintiff's evidence, the defendant moved the court to direct a verdict for the defendant, because the evidence would not warrant a verdict for the plaintiffs. The circuit court granted the motion, and the plaintiffs excepted to the direction, and sued out this writ of error.
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Union Pac. R. Co. v. Marone
... ... 652, 58 L.Ed ... 1062, L.R.A. 1915C, 1, Ann. Cas. 1915B, 475; Bunt v ... Sierra Butte Gold Min. Co., 138 U.S. 483, 484, 485, 11 ... ...
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Gothberg v. Town of Plainville
...then there is no evidence as to when decedent fell. There would still be a failure of proof.”); Bunt v. Sierra Buttue Gold – Min. Co., 138 U.S. 483, 485, 11 S.Ct. 464, 34 L.Ed. 1031 (1891) (“The suggestion that because the only witnesses of the accident, and whom the plaintiffs were therefo......
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Grimm v. State
...evidence in support of the party carrying the burden of proof. For example, in 1891, the Court in Bunt v. Sierra Butte Gold Mining Co. [, 138 U.S. 483, 11 S.Ct. 464, 34 L.Ed. 1031 (1891),] held that a plaintiff could not meet his burden of proof by calling the defendant's employees as witne......
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Grimm v. State
...evidence in support of the party carrying the burden of proof. For example, in 1891, the Court in Bunt v. Sierra Butte Gold Mining Co.[, 138 U.S. 483, 11 S. Ct. 464, 34 L. Ed. 1031 (1891),] held that a plaintiff could not meet his burden of proof by calling the defendant's employees as witn......