Christiansen v. W. H. & F. W. Cane Co.
Christiansen v. W. H. & F. W. Cane Co.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This is an action brought against an employer by one of his employes to recover damages received by the latter while engaged in his employer’s work. The ground of liability was averred to be the failure of the master to furnish safe appliances for the work, by reason whereof the injury complained of came to the plaintiff. At the trial the defendant moved for a nonsuit at the close of the plaintiff’s case on the ground that the proofs disclosed no failure on its part in the performance of any duty which it owed to the plaintiff, and that the negligence exhibited was that of a fellow-servant- of the plaintiff. The nonsuit was refused. At the close of the case a motion to direct a verdict for defendants was made upon the same grounds, and was likewise refused. The jury then found for the plaintiff, and the writ of error brings up for review the judgment entered upon that verdict.
The following are the facts proved material to the determination of the question of the correctness of the rulings of the trial court on the motions for nonsuit and for direction of a verdict. The defendant, a building corporation, was engaged in constructing a four-story factory building in the city of Hoboken. A number of carpenters, among whom was the plaintiff, were engaged in the work, under the direction of a foreman named Smith. Their work included the raising of the flooring to the different stories where it was needed, and in doing this they used a crowfoot derrick, which consisted of a triangular base supporting a mast. The derrick was first used in the basement for raising the first floor beams into
The theory upon which the trial court submitted to the jury the question of the defendants’ liability seems to have been that they not only owed to the plaintiff the duty of furnishing a derrick properly constructed and of suitable material, with sufficient rope to properly guy it, but that they were bound to set it up in the place in which it was to be used, and safely secure it in position for use. This view of the extent of the master’s duty was clearly erroneous. The derrick was not a permanent structure. It was intended to be, and was in fact, moved from place to place as the work being done upon the building required. The duty of moving it, and of adjusting and securing it in position, was one of the duties of the carpenters’ gang, of which the plaintiff was a member, connected with and a part of the work in which he was engaged. The fact that the defendants’ foreman had charge of the moving of the derrick, and that he was responsible for the use of a single guy rope on the occasion of the accident (assuming that to be the fact), does not operate to shift the responsibility for that accident upon the’ shoulders of the master. Under all our decisions the foreman was, in the work of installing the derrick, not the alter ego of the defendants, but the fellow-servant of the plaintiff. Under such conditions of use the responsibility of the defendants ceased when they provided a derrick in proper condition to be set up for use, and furnished proper and sufficient appliances for the purpose of giving it stability in use. The present case, so far as theTegal principles involved are concerned, is identical with that of McLaughlin v. Camden Iron Works, 31 Vroom 557. In that case the plaintiff was ordered by the defendant company’s foreman to assist in raising by hand a heavy wooden frame, which was to be used in supporting a large iron gasholder. While the frame was being thus raised it slewed around and fell upon the plaintiff, severely injuring him. There was upon the premises at the time an abundance
The accident to the plaintiff in the present case not having resulted from any failure of performance of duty on the part of the defendants, it was improper to submit the question of their liability to the jury. There was error both in the refusal to nonsuit and in the refusal to direct a verdict for the defendants.
The judgment under review will be reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CHARLES CHRISTIANSEN v. W. H. & F. W. CANE COMPANY
- Status
- Published