Chall v. Detroit Stove Co.
Chall v. Detroit Stove Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is an action for damages for personal injuries received by plaintiff while working for defendant. From a judgment for plaintiff, recovered in the Wayne circuit court, defendant brings the case to this court by writ of error.
Plaintiff is a minor, and by his next friend brought this action on the case against the defendant for negligence, charging in his declaration that the negligence and failure ■of duty by defendant towards plaintiff was as follows:
“ (a) That defendant did not employ a person of mature years and capable of operating said large machine with skill, who would realize its dangerous character if not manipulated with care and caution in the hands or when ■operated by the operator, but, on the contrary, negligently, carelessly, and wantonly directed said plaintiff to operate said machine so dangerous in character, which required skill and extraordinary care and caution, and which said plaintiff was not able, and could not, by reason of his tender age, to wit, of the age of 14 years, use the care and caution, nor was he able to realize the particular care and caution necessary to be employed in operating said machine.
“ (b) The said defendant failed in its duty, at the time and upon the date aforesaid, which it owed said plaintiff, in that it did not warn the plaintiff of the dangerous character of said large machine upon which plaintiff was directed to work, and did not instruct the said plaintiff, who ■had no previous experience upon said machine or machines of like character, and was not of sufficient age to realize its dangerous character.”
There was no allegation in the declaration that defendant was negligent in putting plaintiff at work upon a machine not in good and safe condition, or in not keeping the said machine in proper repair.
Plaintiff at the time of the injury was 15 years and 6 .months old. He was active and intelligent for his years.
The important errors assigned in the case, necessary to-be considered in its determination, are:
2. Those portions of the charge of the court relative to what was called by the court “ the self-tripping machine,” at which the plaintiff was injured.
The negligence of defendant, as set forth in the declaration, upon which recovery was predicated, consisted, as hereinbefore stated:
1. That the plaintiff, of immature years and no experience, was employed to work on a dangerous machine requiring skill and extraordinary care to operate.
2. That defendant failed in its duty to warn plaintiff of the dangerous character of said machine, and to properly instruct him how to operate it.
The testimony disclosed that another question entered into the case, which related to the “self tripping” or action of this machine when put into operation in crimping the iron plate in successively striking the plate. When the foot pressed on the treadle to cause the die to come down once, it sometimes, upon the single pressure, would immediately and rapidly descend two or three times. The proof was clear and without dispute that this machine did sometimes'so operate; that this was known to the foreman of the shop, and only occurred when the machine was out of repair.
Defendant claimed that, under the pleadings and the evidence in the case, plaintiff could not recover, and requested the court to direct a verdict for defendant. The trial judge denied this motion, and, in charging the jury, held that there was no question of repair in the case; that no negligence was assigned upon any want of repair in the machine; that the first question for the jury to find was whether or not this was a self-tripping machine, and, if they so found, then to find whether the dangers incident to its self tripping were so apparent that they would be
It is not necessary to consider the other errors assigned.
The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and a new trial granted.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CHALL v. DETROIT STOVE CO.
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published