Berryton Mills v. Parham
Berryton Mills v. Parham
Opinion of the Court
Parham brought his action for damages against the Berryton Mills, a manufacturing corporation, to the March term, 1917, of Chattooga superior court, alleging substantially that he
The evidence in substance discloses that Parham had been employed for some time by the mills,—sometimes firing these boilers and sometimes at other work. It became necessary to repair some of the tubes in one of the boilers, and the boiler was accordingly cooled off. Mr. Alexander, the only witness upon the question of cooling off this boiler, testified that he drew the fire from under it about 6:30 or 7 o’clock at night, that he then drained the boiler through the valve .above described, and, after closing this valve, filled the boiler with cold water, and then drained this, repeating this several times; that he finally let the water out about 1 o’clock a. m., and then closed the valve on this boiler. After this, Mr. Hudson, Parham, and several others went to work on this boiler. At 5:30 a. m. this same fellow-servant, Alexander, turned the steam on from the live boiler, burning and scalding Parham. At that time (5:30 a. m.) the valve on the dead boiler, was open, though it was underneath the boiler and the work was being done ■from above, and though no one was shown to have been anywhere near this valve after Alexander testified that he closed it. The two valves, the one on the dead boiler and the one on the live boiler, which Alexander opened, were only a few feet apart, and both were in sight of Alexander when he opened the valve on the live boiler. According to the testimony of Parham, both valves’ were not within the view of Hudson,v where he was working, nor was Alexander within ^his view when he opened the valve on the
What was the proximate cause^of the injury received by Parham ? It cannot be said that the order from 'the vice-principal and the entering of the boiler at the time by Parham was negligence, for at that time there was no steam in the boiler and there was nothing dangerous about the task. Was not the proximate cause of the injury the act of Alexander, the fellow-servant, in opening the valve on the boiler which had steam in it, or the leaving open of the valve on the boiler in which Parham was working. If either be true, and this is the negligence relied upon, it seems to us that the case is controlled by the rule laid down in the Civil Code (1910), § 3129, that “except in eases of railroad companies, the master is not liable to one servant for injuries arising from the negligence or misconduct of other servants about the same business.” In a case somewhat akin in principle to this case, upon exceptions to a nonsuit, this court held that “It is the duty of a master to furnish to servants in his employ safe appliances for the work in which they are engaged; but when such appliances are furnished, and an injury to a servant is plainly attributable solely to the negligence of fellow servants in the manner of using them or in failing to use them, the master is not chargeable therewith.” See Henderson v. Ocean Steamship Co., 15 Ga. App. 790 (84 S. E. 230). The plaintiff, however, says-that he was complying with a command from the master to engage about the work in the boiler, as against his objections so to engage himself. This court has held that “In order for a servant to recover for an injury on the ground that it resulted from his compliance with a direct order of his master, or of his master’s representative, the servant must show that the -order was a negligent one under"the circumstances. If the order was negligent, and the servant knew of the peril of complying with it, or if he had equal means .with his master of knowing of the peril, or by the exercise of ordinary care might have known thereof, then he cannot recover for an injury received in complying with the order.” Simmons v. Southern Railway Co., 19 Ga. App. 524 (91 S. E. 917), and cases cited. See also Whiters v. Mallory Steamship Co., ante, 47 (97 S. E. 453). We are convinced that the evidence in this case, even when viewed most favorably to the plaintiff,
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.