Abercrombie v. Ivey
Abercrombie v. Ivey
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit by a servant against his master for an injury alleged to have been caused by the master’s negligence in failing to furnish to the plaintifE a safe place in which to work and safe machinery to work with, and in failing to warn the plaintifE as to the dangers of the machinery furnished. Other alleged acts of negligence were specified, which, under our view of the case, are not necessary to be set forth. We think that the case is controlled by the decision in Barrow County Cotton Mills v. Farr, 33 Ga. App. 730 (127 S. E. 788), where this court held: “In a suit by a servant for an injury arising from negligence of the master in failing to furnish proper machinery or appliances, or a safe place of work, the servant, to be entitled to recover, must show, among other tilings, that he did not have equal means with his master of knowing of the danger. . . The evidence failing, as a matter of law, to show that, if the defendant was guilty of negligence, the plaintiff did not have equal means of knowing of the alleged negligent defects complained of, the verdict found for the defendant was demanded, and it was error to grant the plaintiff’s motion for a new trial.” Applying the foregoing ruling to the facts of the instant case, the verdict in favor of the plaintiff ivas contrary to law and the evidence, and the refusal to grant a new trial was error. See also Hines v. Little, 26 Ga. App. 136 (105 S. E. 618); Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Dunn, 21 Ga. App. 379 (94 S. E. 661).
Judgment reversed.
070rehearing
ON REHEARING.
A ginner, employed by the owner “to operate this engine and these gins, to keep the gins clear and to see that the cotton is properly ginned,” assumes the ordinary risks incident to such work. Such an employee knows, or should know, as well as the master that it is dangerous to place his hand between the breast of the gins and the saws. When the gin becomes clogged, he knows as well as the master that there is danger in removing the motes, or whatever has clogged the gin, by putting his hand between the saws and the breast of the gin, even though the machinery is stopped. See, in this connection, Worlds v. Georgia Railroad &c. Co., 99 Ga. 283 (25 S. E. 646); Horne v. Atlanta, Birmingham & Coast R. Co., 47 Ga. App. 116 (169 S. E. 760), and cit.
No facts are alleged or evidence offered in this case to show that the plaintiff servant did not or could not know equally with the defendant master of the danger incident to the transaction. He assumed a risk incident to his employment, a risk the existence .of which he either knew or by the exercise of ordinary care should have known. A verdict in his favor is not supported by the evidence.
Judgment adhered to.
Dissenting Opinion
I fully recognize the principles cited and relied on in the majority opinion. If the application of these principles to the facts of this case was the only question that need be decided upon a decision of the general grounds of the motion for new trial, I might agree with the ruling of the majority, though dubitante. I am of the opinion, however, that the verdict of the jury can not be reversed upon the general grounds. Conceding that the plaintiff assumed the risk of getting his hand caught in the machinery, it was alleged that the injury actually done to his hand, and necessitating its amputation, was not the result of getting his hand lodged therein, but that after this occurred and some injury was done to his hand the defendant master, in attempting to extricate him from the machine, negligently turned a part of the mechanism of the machine the wrong way, which caused his hand to be pulled further into the saws and resulted in additional serious injury. Waiving the question of whether the defendant owed
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.