Diamond Block Coal Co. v. Edmonson

• Decision Date: 12 March 1896
• Citation: 14 Ind.App. 594,43 N.E. 242
• Parties: DIAMOND BLOCK COAL CO. v. EDMONSON.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

14 Ind.App. 594

43 N.E. 242

DIAMOND BLOCK COAL CO.

v.EDMONSON.

Appellate Court of Indiana.

March 12, 1896.

Appeal from circuit court, Clay county; S. M. McGregor, Judge.

Action by Lafayette Edmonson against the Diamond Block Coal Company for personal injuries. There was a judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.Geo. A. Knight and A. W. Knight, for appellant. G. S. Payne, James A. McNutt, and A. Payne, for appellee.

GAVIN, C. J.

Appellee sued appellant to recover damages for injuries received while working for it. Upon the trial a general verdict was returned for appellee. The overruling of the motion for new trial is the error here assigned.

Appellee was injured, while descending into appellant's coal mine, by reason of the breaking of the hoisting cable, and the consequent fall of the cage in which he was riding. Defects in, and unfitness of, both the rope and the safety catches are charged as the grounds of recovery; knowledge of, and negligence with reference to, both being alleged against appellant. The correlative duties of the master and servant have been recently considered, and authorities cited, in Railway Co. v. Quinn (Ind. App.) 43 N. E. 240.

Our procedure and practice do not recognize the right of a defendant to require the withdrawal of a case from the jury by a motion for a nonsuit. Williams v. Port, 9 Ind. 551;Stults v. Forst, 135 Ind. 297, 34 N. E. 1125; 2 Elliott, Gen. Prac. § 876.

Appellee was entitled to prove, by experts, how far a cage would drop when detached from the hoisting rope, before its descent ought to be checked and stopped by approved safety catches. If, with the catches in proper working order, the fall of the cage would be prevented, and if, in fact, the fall of the cage was not prevented by the catches in use, this was certainly some evidence that they were not in good order. The usual effect of such catches was properly provable by those who, from a knowledge of their construction, and the principles upon which they worked, and actual observation, were able to possess and give an intelligent opinion upon the subject. These things come strictly within the proper domain of expert evidence, as defined in Railway Co. v. Hale, 93 Ind. 79: “The opinion of an expert in any art, science, trade, profession, or mystery may be given, where it is proper for the decision of a question relating to the issues in the case.” Vide, also, Rog. Exp. Ev. § 104, for cases analogous to this. According to the statement of objections made by counsel in his brief, no objection was made to the competency of the witnesses as experts, nor was it stated, as a cause for objection, that the basis of facts was not sufficiently broad and comprehensive. Parties will, in this court, be confined to the grounds of objection stated to the trial court. Improvement Co. v. Wagner, 138 Ind. 658, 38 N. E. 49;Doan v. Dow, 8 Ind. App. 324, 35 N. E. 709.

It is further urged that, since appellee alleged negligence with respect to defects in the rope, and also in the safety catches, and since both the breaking of the rope and the insufficiency of the catches were requisite to the causing of the accident, appellee was required to prove negligence as to both, under the case of Railroad Co. v. McCorkle (Ind. Sup.) 40 N. E. 62. That case depends upon the peculiarity of the particular facts therein involved, and is not applicable here, where, although the accident could not occur without the co-operation of broken rope...