Fields v. Dir. Gen. Of R.R.S

Decision Date21 September 1920
Docket Number(No. 4055.)
Citation104 S.E. 767
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
PartiesFIELDS. v. DIRECTOR GENERAL OF RAILROADS.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 30, 1920.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error to Circuit Court, Wayne County.

Action by Milton Fields against the Director General of Railroads. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Affirmed.

Holt, Duncan & Holt, of Huntington, for plaintiff in error.

J. H. Strickling, of Huntington, and Johnson & Jones, for defendant in error.

POFFENBARGER, J. Upon the assumption of lack of evidence of negligence on his part, the Director General of Railroads obtained this writ of" error to a judgment for $2,000, rendered against him in an action brought under the federal Employers' Liability Act (U. S. Comp. St. §§ 8657-S665), on the theory of injury to the plaintiff's hand by reason of negligence on the part of a section foreman employed in the operation of the Norfolk & Western Railroad.

The injured hand was caught and ground in a cogwheel on a shaft governing the chains by which drop doors in freight cars used in hauling in bulk, coal, gravel, cinders and other materials are operated. The doors drop from the bottom of the car and are held closed and in position, when the car is loaded, by the chains attached to them and wound up on the shaft or pulleys on it, and the shaft, with the chains and door attached to it, is held in position by a dog fastened to the side of the car and dropped into a cog of the wheel on the shaft. On top of the dog is a metal piece, also attached to the side of the car, or a plate fastened to it, called a latch. Its function is to hold the dog in the cog. The process of dropping the doors in unloading the car consists of knocking the lower end of the latch off of the dog with a hammer and then knocking the dog out of the cog. Theoretically, the latch, when knocked around, stands in a position of noninterference with the dog; but, after a period of us© and wear, it often fails to do so, and falls back on the dog, and then it is necessary to put a wedge of some kind behind it, or behind a spring designed to retain it, in order to hold it in place until the wheel is released by knocking the dog out, and this wedging operation, when necessary, involves the use of the hands, or one of them. Instead of turning the end of the latch to one side, or straight up, by a blow from a hammer or other instrument, the workman moves it with his hand until it will hold, or wedges it, probably using both hands in the latter case. It frequently happens that, when the cogwheel has been fully released, the doors do not drop, even though they are in perfect order, and then they are forced down in some way— sometimes by prying them loose with a crowbar.

On the occasion of the injury here involved, the plaintiff undertook to release the cogwheel. At the time the foreman was on the side of the car opposite to him. The latter ordered the former to "knock the door, " and he attempted to do so. He says he struck the latch, and knocked it probably half way up, and started to take hold of it with his left hand and pull it so he could hit the dog, and that, about that time, the foreman again ordered him to "knock the...

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8 cases
  • Wehner v. Weinstein
    • United States
    • West Virginia Supreme Court
    • April 20, 1994
    ...230, 240 S.E.2d 544 (1977) ]; Blankenship v. City of Williamson, 101 W.Va. 199, 132 S.E. 492 [ (1926) ]; Fields v. Director General of Railroads, 86 W.Va. 707, 104 S.E. 767 [ (1920) ]; Houston v. Strickland, 184 Va. 994, 37 S.E.2d 64, 165 A.L.R. 537 [ (1946) ]." 144 W.Va. at 135, 107 S.E.2d......
  • Roush v. Johnson, s. 10590
    • United States
    • West Virginia Supreme Court
    • January 20, 1954
    ...by an ordinarily prudent person. State ex rel. Davis Trust Co., v. Sims, 130 W.Va. 623, 46 S.E.2d 90; Fields v. Director General of Railroads, 86 W.Va. 707, 104 S.E. 767. Though this Court, in dealing with the question whether an alleged act of negligence is the sole proximate cause of the ......
  • Riffe v. Armstrong
    • United States
    • West Virginia Supreme Court
    • September 5, 1996
    ...138 W.Va. 166, 75 S.E.2d 376 (1953), appeal dismissed, 347 U.S. 910, 74 S.Ct. 478, 98 L.Ed. 1067 (1954); Fields v. Director General of Railroads, 86 W.Va. 707, 104 S.E. 767 (1920); Donald v. Long Branch Coal Co., 86 W.Va. 249, 103 S.E. 55 Moreover, we note that the order filing the involunt......
  • Oresta v. Romano Bros., Inc., 10455
    • United States
    • West Virginia Supreme Court
    • December 16, 1952
    ...foresight, the actor is guilty of negligence in the premises and legally liable in damages for the injury.' Fields v. Director General of Railroads, 86 W.Va. 707, 104 S.E. 767. 'Party committing breach of duty is liable for its natural and proximate effects, which may be immediate or throug......
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