Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Cook
Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Cook
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the Court by
Reversing.
Lee Cook was an inspector of engines in the round house of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company at Corbin, Ky., and had been for about a year on October 7, 1910. He worked at night. It was his duty when an engine was placed over the pit in the round house to inspect it, and to make this inspection it was necessary for him to go down in the pit under the engine. On that night between 10 and 11 o’clock an engine was placed over the pit and he went under it to inspect it. While he was inspecting the chafing iron and was near the blow-off pipe, about a quart of hot water
The chief question made on the appeal is that the court misinstructed the jury, and that under the proof the court should have instructed the jury peremptorily to find for the defendant on the ground that as it was the plaintiff’s business to inspect the engine he took the risks of the business, and that it was not necessary that the defendants should have another man to- inspect it and find out whether it was safe for him to inspect. In
“There are servants who prepare the places and servants who work in these places after they have been prepared. As to the servants engaged in the work of preparation, and who are employed to make places safe for other servants, the doctrine of safe place's does not apply. The master should not in reason be required to make the places safe for those he has employed to put them in a safe condition.”
In Boyd v. Crescent Coal Co., 141 Ky., 787, the court after quoting the above, added:
“The reason for this rule is perfectly apparent. As the duty of making the place reasonably safe devolves upon the master he must employ persons for that purpose. If he had to employ one man to make the place reasonably safe for another whom he employed for that purpose, then he would be under a like duty with reference to the first man so employed, and so on in a never-ending condition of liability. This would make the master an insurer. The law, however, is not so exacting.”
It is insisted for Cook that the rule announced in these cases does not apply here for the reason that the pipe was a part of the boiler; that he was employed to inspect not the boiler but the engine, and that there was a boiler inspector whose duty it was- to inspect the boiler. We cannot see, however, that this distinction can be maintained. The engine sets upon the boiler. The engine and boiler constitute one machine. -Cook could not inspect the engine without going under the boiler, and when he was burned he was in fact at the fire box and inspecting the chafing iron, which is in front of it and a part of the fire.box attachment. He knew when he went under the engine that he was the first inspector to go to it. He went to it in a few minutes after it was put on the pit, and before the boiler inspector had inspected it. The proof shows without any question that it was not uncommon for these blow pipes to leak and while ordinarily the trouble could be seen from steam or water escaping from the pipe, it sometimes happened that the water would gush out in spurts intermittently, as in the case in question. Why this occurred the witnesses are not very clear, but it would seem from the testimony that it was due to the pipe becoming full of water, and the steam accumulating behind the water,
Judgment reversed and cause remanded for a new trial.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company v. Cook
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- 1 case
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- Published