Barker v. Tennessee Coal, Iron & R. Co.

• Decision Date: 07 November 1914
• Docket Number: 852
• Citation: 189 Ala. 579,66 So. 600
• Parties: BARKER v. TENNESSEE COAL, IRON & R. CO.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

66 So. 600

189 Ala. 579

BARKER v. TENNESSEE COAL, IRON & R. CO.

No. 852

Supreme Court of Alabama

November 7, 1914

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jefferson County; E.C. Crowe, Judge.

Action by Frank P. Barker against the Tennessee Coal, Iron &amp Railroad Company, for injuries received while in its employment. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

The action is grounded as stated in the opinion. The following charges were given at the instance of defendant:

(1) You cannot find that Bryant's directions to pinch or prize the rock in the wall, and his also directing plaintiff to turn the water on, entitled plaintiff to recover. You must further find that in giving such directions Bryant was at fault, and that such fault was the proximate cause of plaintiff's injury. (5) The Employers' Liability Statute of Alabama (Code 1907, § 3910) is not intended to secure to employés damages upon the mere fact that they are injured while at work. (6) You cannot award plaintiff damages from the mere fact that he was injured while at work, but in order to find for plaintiff you must find that Bryant was guilty of negligence, and, if you do not find that Bryant failed to use the care which a reasonably prudent man would have used under like circumstances, you must find for defendant. (7) The suit is brought under the Alabama statutes relating to the liability of employers for damages when their employés are injured, while engaged at the work for which they were employed. This statute does not authorize the jury to award damages to a plaintiff unless defendant's agent had been guilty of negligence. (8) You cannot find that defendant was liable in damages to plaintiff from the mere fact, if you believe it to be a fact from the evidence, that the foreman had one of the men under him engaged in loosening the rocks in the wall with a pinch bar, and at the same time ordered plaintiff to turn on the water. (9) If you believe from the evidence that any witness in the case has knowingly sworn falsely as to any material fact in the case, you may disregard the testimony of such witness entirely. (10) You are under no duty to undertake to reconcile with the other evidence any testimony in the case which you are reasonably satisfied from all the evidence is false. (11) The mere fact that Bryant sent plaintiff to turn on the water under the wall when Bryant knew that the wall was out of plumb would not constitute negligence on Bryant's part. (12) An employer is not an insurer of the safety of his employés while they are at work. (13) If you believe from the evidence that any witness in this case has been biased by his friendship for plaintiff in giving his testimony, you may take such bias into consideration in weighing the testimony of that witness. (14) It is admitted in this case that the wall was unsafe and was being repaired. You cannot find damages for plaintiff merely because the wall was insecure.

Bondurant & Smith, of Birmingham, for appellant.

Percy Benners & Burr, of Birmingham, for appellee.

GARDNER J.

Suit by employé against employer, to recover damages sustained while in the service of the employer.

The work in which plaintiff was engaged at the time of the injury was in assisting other laborers in tearing down a certain wall of a coke oven, which had become...