Nichols v. Raleigh-wyo. Coal Co, No. 7142.

• Court: Supreme Court of West Virginia
• Writing for the Court: WOODS
• Citation: 163 S.E. 767
• Parties: NICHOLS. v. RALEIGH-WYOMING COAL CO.
• Docket Number: No. 7142.
• Decision Date: 05 April 1932

163 S.E. 767

NICHOLS.
v.
RALEIGH-WYOMING COAL CO.

No. 7142.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

April 5, 1932.

Syllabus by the Court.

Upon a motion to direct a verdict for the defendant, every reasonable and legitimate inference fairly arising from the testimony, when considered in its entirety, must be indulged in favorably to plaintiff; and the court must assume as true those facts which the jury may properly find under the evidence.

Error to Circuit Court, Raleigh County.

Action by Earl Nichols, administrator, against the Raleigh-Wyoming Coal Company. Judgment in favor of the defendant, and the plaintiff brings error.

Judgment reversed, verdict set aside, and a new trial awarded.

John Q. Hutchinson and Clay S. Crouse, both of Beckley, for plaintiff in error.

Brown, Jackson & Knight, of Charleston, and File, Goldsmith & Scherer, of Beckley, for defendant in error.

WOODS, J.

This is an action of trespass on the case by the administrator (husband) of Kathleen Nichols, deceased, to recover damages for wrongful death. After plaintiff had rested, the trial court sustained a motion to direct a verdict for the defendant company. So the question before us is whether the trial court erred in taking the case from the jury.

Defendant, a coal mining company, was conducting operations at Edwight, and had been so engaged for a number of years prior to the date of the accident and death of plaintiff's decedent. The tipple and side tracks of the C. & O. Railway Company, used in connection therewith, were located across Hazy creek from the town of Edwight. A couple of hundred yards below the tipple the company maintained a footbridge, which it appears was used by its employees and their families in going to and from Edwight--to the post office, theater, school, and churches. A short distance above the tracks the company maintained some twenty houses for its employees; the same being located on both sides of a narrow roadway, which paralleled the tracks. Plaintiff and his family, including decedent, lived in one of these houses, almost directly opposite the lower end of the tipple. The roadway, made of bone and coal refuse, was very undesirable for foot travel, because it was very dirty, and also because the distance by such route to the town of Edwight was

[163 S.E. 768]

about twice as far as that by way of the footbridge. The testimony is to the effect that practically all the miners and their families used the footbridge in walking to and from Edwight, and...