Knaup v. Western Coal & Min. Co.

• Decision Date: 01 April 1938
• Docket Number: No. 35659.,35659.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court
• Parties: OSCAR KNAUP v. WESTERN COAL & MINING COMPANY, a Corporation, Appellant.

114 S.W.2d 969

OSCAR KNAUP v. WESTERN COAL & MINING COMPANY, a Corporation, Appellant.

No. 35659.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

Division One, April 1, 1938.

Appeal from Jackson Circuit Court. — Hon. Ben Terte, Judge.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

Edgar J. Keating, William Aull, Jr., J.M. Challis and Robert B. Vaughan for appellant.

(1) The trial court erred in not sustaining and in refusing to give defendant's demurrer to the evidence offered and requested at the close of plaintiff's case and again offered and requested at the close of the entire case for the reason that plaintiff's injury, if any, was the result of an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment with defendant and by reason thereof was solely compensable under the Workmen's Compensation Act of the State of Kansas, and therefore the court had no jurisdiction over the subject matter of the case. Kansas Workmen's Compensation Act, R.S. Kansas, secs. 44-501-44-565; Kansas Mining Act, R.S. Kansas, secs. 49-201 to 49-309; Menard v. Goltra, 40 S.W. (2d) 1058; R.S. 1929, sec. 806; Boneau v. Swift & Co., 66 S.W. (2d) 175; Kemper v. Gluck, 39 S.W. (2d) 333; Clark v. Amos, 144 Kan. 115; Gust v. Provident Life & Acc. Ins. Co., 136 Kan. 88, 12 Pac. (2d) 831; Span v. Jackson Walker Coal & Min. Co., 16 S.W. (2d) 190; Cain v. Humes-Deal Co., 49 S.W. (2d) 90; Grindstaff v. Goldberg & Sons Steel Co., 40 S.W. (2d) 702; Downey v. Kansas City Gas Co., 92 S.W. (2d) 584; Barker v. Shell Pet. Corp., 297 Pac. 418, 132 Kan. 778; Steele v. Railroad Co., 265 Mo. 110; State ex rel. Weddle v. Trimble, 52 S.W. (2d) 867; DeLorme v. St. Louis Pub. Serv. Co., 61 S.W. (2d) 250; Murray v. Transit Co., 176 Mo. 183, 75 S.W. 611; Stringer v. Mining Co., 114 Kan. 716; Rush v. Empire Oil & Refining Co., 34 Pac. (2d) 543; Evans v. Western Terra Cotta Co., 67 Pac. (2d) 426; Gilliland v. Cement Co., 104 Kan. 771, 180 Pac. 793; Kern v. Reed, 136 Kan. 36, 12 Pac. (2d) 820; Zelinkoff v. Mountain States Brush Mfg. Corp., 135 Kan. 248; Paul v. Travelers Ins. Co., 112 N.Y. 479; Riggs v. Ash Grove L. & P.C. Co., 127 Kan. 91, 272 Pac. 153, Id., 131 Kan. 244; Harmon v. Larrabee Flour Mills Co., 4 Pac. (2d) 406; 71 C.J., pp. 593, 631, secs. 344, 384; 97 A.L.R., 1412; 90 A.L.R., 619; 23 A.L.R., 335; 6 A.L.R., 1463; Industrial Comm. of Colorado v. Ule, 48 Pac. (2d) 803; New River Coal Co. v. Felis, 109 So. 360, 215 Ala. 64; Industrial Comm. of Ohio v. Roth, 120 N.E. 173, 98 Ohio St. 34; Sullivan Min. Co. v. Aschenback, 33 Fed. (2d) 3; Van Vleet v. Pub. Serv. Co. of N.Y., 111 Neb. 51, 195 N.W. 467; Tintic Milling Co. v. Industrial Comm., of Utah, 206 Pac. 278, 60 Utah, 14; Lovell v. Williams Bros., Inc., 50 S.W. (2d) 710; Guillod v. Kansas City P. & L. Co., 18 S.W. (2d) 97; Rue v. Eagle Picher Lead Co., 38 S.W. (2d) 487; Palmer v. Fricke, 253 Pac. 583, 122 Kan. 825; Roberts v. Ottawa, 165 Pac. 869, 101 Kan. 228; Griswold v. Wichita, 162 Pac. 279, 99 Kan. 502; Menke v. Harker, 99 Kan. 171, 160 Pac. 1017; McRoberts v. Nalt. Zinc Co., 144 Pac. 247, 93 Kan. 366; 71 C.J., p. 242, sec. 15; Minneapolis, etc., Railroad Co. v. Industrial Comm., 141 N.W. 1119, 153 Wis. 555; Stertz v. Industrial Comm., 158 Pac. 258, 91 Wash. 588; Klasing v. Schmitt Contracting Co., 73 S.W. (2d) 1015; Mosley v. Empire Gas & Fuel Co., 313 Mo. 225, 281 S.W. 762. (a) The trial court erred in not sustaining and in refusing to give defendant's demurrer to the evidence offered and requested at the close of plaintiff's case and again offered and requested at the close of the entire case for the reasons that plaintiff tried his case on the theory that there was carbon monoxide gas in harmful quantities present in his working place, that it was there as the result of some negligence of defendant and that he breathed such gas from day to day and was thereby slowly and gradually injured. He failed absolutely to prove in any respect whatsoever, or even to offer testimony to the effect that (1) there was any carbon monoxide gas in his working place, and (2) that defendant was negligent in any respects whatsoever, and (3) that he was injured slowly and gradually as the result of breathing carbon monoxide gas in defendant's mine from day to day. Having failed to produce evidence on his own theory of the case, no case was made for the jury. Cain v. Humes-Deal Co., 49 S.W. (2d) 92; State v. Ellison, 176 S.W. 13; Hamilton v. St. L.-S.F. Ry. Co., 300 S.W. 792; Pevesdorf v. Union Electric Co., 64 S.W. (2d) 946; Blackwell v. Union Pac. Railroad Co., 52 S.W. (2d) 817; Macklin v. Fogel Const. Co., 31 S.W. (2d) 19; Mitchell v. Wabash Ry. Co., 69 S.W. (2d) 286; Greer v. St. Louis Pub. Serv. Co., 87 S.W. (2d) 240; Gandy v. St. L.-S.F. Ry. Co., 44 S.W. (2d) 635; Kitchen v. Schlueter Mfg. Co., 20 S.W. (2d) 676; Degonia v. Ry. Co., 224 Mo. 588; R.S. Kansas, sec. 49-205; White v. Am. Life & Acci. Ins. Co., 90 S.W. (2d) 118; Smith v. Mo. Ins. Co., 60 S.W. (2d) 730; R.S. Kansas, sec. 49-204; Landau v. Travelers' Ins. Co., 287 S.W. 349; Masterson v. St. L. Transit Co., 204 Mo. 507; Indiahoma Refining Co. v. Natl. Fire Ins. Co. of Hartford, 242 S.W. 712; Denkman v. Prudential Fixture Co., 289 S.W. 593; Pointer v. Mountain Ry. Const. Co., 269 Mo. 120; Grindstaff v. Goldberg & Sons Steel Co., 40 S.W. (2d) 702; Yarnall v. Railroad Co., 113 Mo. 579, 21 S.W. 1; Mockowik v. Railroad Co., 196 Mo. 571; Koprivica v. Standard Acc. Ins. Co., 218 S.W. 689; Nelson v. Heinz Stove Co., 8 S.W. (2d) 918; Berry v. Adams, 71 S.W. (2d) 131; Raw v. Maddox, 93 S.W. (2d) 284; Lamb v. Levitt Realty & Inv. Co., 106 S.W. (2d) 509; Yarbrough v. Hammond Packing Co., 231 S.W. 73; Robison v. C.E. & I. Ry. Co., 64 S.W. (2d) 660, 664; Layton v. Chinberg, 282 S.W. 435; Hamilton v. Railroad Co., 250 Mo. 723; Sexton v. St. Railroad Co., 245 Mo. 276, 149 S.W. 21; State v. Cox, 250 S.W. 551. (2) The trial court erred in giving Instruction A requested by the plaintiff over the objection of the defendant. (a) It submits a theory of liability which is contrary to and impeaches plaintiff's own testimony. Steele v. Railroad Co., 265 Mo. 110; State ex rel. Weddle v. Trimble, 52 S.W. (2d) 867; DeLorme v. St. Louis Pub. Serv. Co., 61 S.W. (2d) 250; Beechman v. Greenlease Motor Co., 38 S.W. (2d) 535; Murray v. Transit Co., 176 Mo. 183, 75 S.W. 611; Grange v. C. & E.I. Ry. Co., 69 S.W. (2d) 961. (b) It assumes that plaintiff's injury, if any he has, was received slowly and gradually and from day to day and on several different days which was and is a disputed fact. Barr v. Nafziger Bakery Co., 41 S.W. (2d) 562; Kirkham v. Jenkins Music Co., 104 S.W. (2d) 237. (c) It submits general grounds of negligence which were not supported by the evidence when specific negligence was pleaded in the petition in that it submits two general charges of statutory negligence in the disjunctive, neither of which was supported by the evidence, together with a submission in general terms of common law negligence and as to the common law negligence submitted does not require a finding that defendant was negligent or that it knew or by the exercise of ordinary care could have known of the claimed dangerous conditions in plaintiff's working place and does not limit the jury to the negligence pleaded in the petition. Dewey v. Kline's, 86 S.W. (2d) 622; Weddle v. St. Joseph Ry. L.H. & P. Co., 47 S.W. (2d) 1098; State ex rel. Weddle v. Trimble, 331 Mo. 1, 52 S.W. (2d) 864; Sec. 49-204, Kansas Mining Act; Porter v. St. Joseph Ry. Co., 311 Mo. 66, 277 S.W. 915; Price v. Met. St. Ry. Co., 220 Mo. 454; Smith v. Harbison Walker Co., 100 S.W. (2d) 921; Wolf v. Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, 336 Mo. 746, 81 S.W. (2d) 325; Plank v. Brown Petroleum Co., 332 Mo. 1150, 61 S.W. (2d) 332; Burgher v. Niedrop, 50 S.W. (2d) 176; Stermolle v. Brainard, 24 S.W. (2d) 715; Secs. 49-214, 49-215, 49-220, 49-227, Kansas Mining Act; Driscoll v. Wells, 29 S.W. (2d) 50; De Moss v. K.C. Rys. Co., 296 Mo. 526, 246 S.W. 566; Thompson v. Livery Co., 214 Mo. 490; McManamee v. Mo. Pac. Ry. Co., 135 Mo. 447; Perry v. Mining Co., 188 Mo. App. 322; Cain v. Humes-Deal Co., 49 S.W. (2d) 92; Annin v. Jackson, 100 S.W. (2d) 872; Musser v. Musser, 221 S.W. 49; Miller v. Chinn, 195 S.W. 554; Gibson v. Railroad Co., 225 Mo. 485; Wentz Railway Co., 259 Mo. 465, 168 S.W. 1166; Rositsky v. Rositsky, 46 S.W. (2d) 591; Wojtylak v. Coal Co., 188 Mo. 281; Messing v. Judge & Dolph Drug. Co., 18 S.W. (2d) 418; Bello v. Stuever, 44 S.W. (2d) 619; Pevesdorf v. Union Elec. Co., 64 S.W. (2d) 946; Ward v. Poplar Bluff Ice & Fuel Co., 264 S.W. 80. (d) It ignores the theory upon which plaintiff tried his case, is broader than the evidence and gives the jury a roving commission in that it does not require the jury to find (1) that there was carbon monoxide gas present in plaintiff's working place (2) that it was there as the result of the negligence submitted and (3) that the breathing of said gas caused plaintiff's claimed injuries. State ex rel. Central Coal & Coke Co. v. Ellison, 195 S.W. 724; Pevesdorf v. Union Elec. Power Co., 64 S.W. (2d) 947; Degonia v. St. Louis Railroad Co., 224 Mo. 564; Cain v. Humes-Deal Co., 49 S.W. (2d) 90; Dean v. Railroad Co., 199 Mo. 400; State v. Ellison. 176 S.W. 13; Blackwell v. Union Pac. Railroad Co., 52 S.W. (2d) 817; Marklin v. Fogel Const. Co., 31 S.W. (2d) 19; Mitchell v. Wabash Ry. Co., 69 S.W. (2d) 286; Greer v. St. Louis Pub. Serv. Co., 87 S.W. (2d) 240; Gandy v. St. L.-S.F. Ry. Co., 44 S.W. (2d) 635; Kitchen v. Schlueter Mfg. Co., 20 S.W. (2d) 676. (3) The trial court erred in admitting incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial and prejudicial evidence offered by plaintiff over the objection and exception of defendant in this, to-wit: (a) The trial court erred in permitting counsel for plaintiff to examine plaintiff's Doctor Benage, touching the question of whether all persons have tuberculosis germs lying dormant in their body and if such persons' lung tissues become inflamed and an inflammatory process or condition, such as the...