Butner ex rel. Butner v. Brown Brothers Lumber Co.
Butner ex rel. Butner v. Brown Brothers Lumber Co.
Opinion of the Court
On careful consideration, we are of opinion that no liability bas been established against defendant company, and the motion for nonsuit should have been sustained. There was evidence tending to show that in March, 1918, plaintiff, a bright boy, then about 12 years of age, had his arm caught in the cog-wheels of an edging machine in the lumber mill of the defendant company and had it crushed so that it had to be amputated, that this machine was in the shape of a long table, on which there was a carriage propelled by a gearing of cogwheels at the side of the table and on this carriage the lumber was moved forward through the machine, cutting off the edges as the term imports. The foreman usually stands at the front, feeding the machine or guiding the lumber as it goes through, and at the other end another man or boy with the duty of tailing the edger, and when the lumber has passed through it goes on to the trimmer table, about 20 feet beyond, and the edgings are thrown into the hog or off to the side of the machine so as to keep the same clear. That the machine in question was a standard machine in good order and the cogwheels which moved the carriage were covered' by metallic hoods going two-thirds of the way down in the usual manner of such coverings and affording ample protection to any employee engaged in operating the machine or working about it, and the only way to get caught, as stated by .several witnesses, was to “come up under it.” There was also full testimony on the part of the defendant that by the rules of the company and its managers children were forbidden to come within the mill, notices to that effect being placed generally about in the mill in places likely to give warning, and they were never allowed in the mill except when they slipped in. That on the occasion in question, Corliss Eishell being the edger or foreman in charge of the machine, and Joe Eishell, an ordinary laborer, about 16 or 17 years of age, acting as tailer, the plaintiff was sent by his father to the mill to get some of the edging for the purpose of doing repairing about his lot, and which were to be obtained on the outside of the mill where they were usually placed when sold or given away, and both father and son testified that the father had instructed the plaintiff on no account to go in the mill for the edgings. And speaking to the fact of plaintiff being in the mill and about the machine at the time, Corliss Eishell, the foreman as stated, but now in the employment of others in the State of Pennsylvania, testified as follows: “In March or April, 1913, this boy, Earl Butner, came to Brown Brothers’ sawmill at Eskota where I was working. He came after some edgings. I told him particularly and emphatically not to come in the mill while it was being operated. There was no
This will be certified that the judgment and verdict be set aside and the cause dismissed as on the motion of nonsuit.
Reversed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting: It needs no authority to sustain the proposition that on a motion for nonsuit the Court should consider the evidence only in the aspect most favorable to the plaintiff and with the most favorable inferences that the jury can draw from the evidence, for reason that the jury'whose sole province it is to weigh the evidence, or to draw inferences therefrom, might take that view.
Applying this familiar and just rule, the defendant company operated a large band sawmill which, besides the large band saw, had four sets of saws running — seven saws in one set, four in another, eleven in another, and one in the other. There were two sets of live rolls and two others. .Nearby was the mill village where the employees of the mill
Tbe plaintiff, a boy 11 years of age at tbe time of tbe injury, went to tbe mill that day to get some strips which tbe mill superintendent bad agreed with tbe plaintiff’s father to have thrown out. Tbe plaintiff testified, and bis testimony must be taken as true on tbis motion, as well as tbe above, that tbe mill was running, and that tbe man who was running tbe edger where these strips were thrown off, called him in and told him to go and get tbe strips out, that be was too busy and could not help him. And be (the plaintiff) being used to going into tbe mill, did not think that there was any danger in going where be was told, and went in to get tbe strips; that tbe strips were lying beside tbe machine, and as be stooped down to pick them up bis sleeve was caught in tbe cogs and his arm being drawn in, was ground off above tbe elbow; that they bad to stop tbe machine and take it apart to get him out; that be was sent to tbe hospital, where bis arm was amputated near tbe shoulder.
He also testified that be bad been in tbe habit of playing in tbe mill for a long time and that be had been going there a long time to get strips; that nobody bad ordered him out of tbe mill; that be and tbe other children were allowed to play there, and liked to do so, and that no one bad ever warned him of any danger being incident to tbe machinery there operated.
■ There was a conflict of testimony as to who was running the edger that day. The defendant introduced the deposition of Corliss Rishell that he was running the edger, and instead of letting the plaintiff in, he told him to stay out. But the plaintiff and his father testified that Joe Rishell was running the edger and Joe does not testify to the contrary, but this is immaterial for under this motion the testimony for the plaintiff must be taken as true that Joe Rishell was running the edger, and that he told the 11-year-old child to come in and get the strips and (as the plaintiff testifies) that he and the other boys were accustomed to play there, that he had not been warned of any danger and had repeatedly gotten strips at that place, that he had never been ordered out of the mill, and that he and other children had been allowed to play there.
Whether the above evidence was true, or that of the defendant, which was only contradictory in part, was a matter which the plaintiff was entitled to have the jury decide and the court on this motion for nonsuit was compelled to take as true and properly refused the motion for' nonsuit. This case is very much similar to Ferrell v. Cotton Mill, 157 N. C., 528, where Judge Walicer clearly stated the principle applicable to this case.
This little child of 11, with his fellows living immediately around the mill in the company’s houses and inlaying in the mill for months without any objection, had been to the exact spot where the little plaintiff had lost his arm, he had not been warned of any danger, and when he was told by the edger to go there and get strips which the edger said he was too busy to get himself, since this would require the stopping of the machine, he was not even a technical trespasser. The entire conduct of the defendant was negligent, and there was no negligence whatever on the part of the plaintiff, taking, as we must, the evidence for the plaintiff to be true, and the jury found it to be true.
Besides the above, which was sufficient, it was the grossest negligence for the defendant to case only the upper half of a 6-inch bevel gearing, revolving rapidly, leaving the lower half of this dangerous instrumentality entirely uncovered. The draft made by the saw or between the door and the window, or by some other cause would readily and naturally drive some of the little child’s clothing into this rapidly revolving and unprotected gearing.
The negligence of the defendant is further enhanced by the fact that 'not only the children of its employees in the adjacent houses were allowed to play in the mill but in open defiance of law, the defendant employed some of these very children, including the plaintiff, to work therein when under the age prescribed by law.
If tbe defendant bad evidence wbicb could overthrow tbe above testimony for tbe plaintiff, tbe jury did not believe it, and it was not within tbe jurisdiction of tbe judge to do so. Very many cases are authority wbicb forbade tbe judge to direct a nonsuit, among them Ainsley v. Lumber Co., 165 N. C., 122, and Starling v. Cotton Mills, 168 N. C., 230. Tbis child, 11 years old at tbe time, must go through life with one arm gone. He gave bis account bow it happened. Tbe jury said be told tbe truth; can we say tbe contrary ?
Reference
- Full Case Name
- EARL BUTNER, by His Next Friend, L. B. BUTNER v. BROWN BROTHERS LUMBER COMPANY
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published