Threadgill v. Peabody Coal Co‪.‬

Defendant, Peabody Coal Company (Peabody), appeals from a judgment holding it liable for damages for the loss of certain equipment owned by the plaintiff which was lost in the process of probing test holes drilled by Peabody. Plaintiff was an independent contractor hired by Peabody to probe the test holes for the purpose of locating coal deposits. After the test holes were sunk to the appropriate depth by Peabody, plaintiffs employees lowered a probing device to the bottom of each hole and proceeded to "log" the hole as the probe was retrieved. "Logging" consists of gathering soil samples and other data. During the probing of one of the test holes by the employees of the plaintiff, the probing device became stuck in the hole. Employees of Peabody then commenced recovery operations which were unsuccessful.