Fulton v. Grieb Rubber Co.
Fulton v. Grieb Rubber Co.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
This writ of error brings up a judgment of the Supreme Court entered upon a verdict for defendant directed at the trial. The plaintiff in error, who was also the plaintiff in the action below, was an employe of the defendant, and while feeding rubber into one of the defendant’s mills had both his hands injured by their being drawn into the rolls that constituted a part of the machine. Just before this happened the plaintiff was resting his right hand against the shoulder of the mill, and was about to remove with his left hand a piece- of gum from the rolls, when he felt a jar or shock, and his right hand went in between the rolls. In his endeavors to extricate this hand he placed the other against the rolls, and that hand also was drawn in and injured. A sixteen candle-power incandescent electric light bulb, suspended from the ceiling by an insulated wire, hung about) four feet above the rolls and about the same distance from two galvanized iron pipes that ran perpendicularly from the floor to the ceiling at one end of the mill. The plaintiff’s case is that the insulation had at a certain point been worn off the electric light wire by constant friction with the iron pipes, against which it had been blown by the wind, and that at the time of the accident this exposed place on the wire came in contact with the iron pipes and transmitted the electric cur
From the argument that follows it is apparent that the question thus selected for discussion was taken from a still earlier opinion delivered in the Supreme Court upon the rule to show cause why the first verdict obtained in this case should not be set aside. When the second rule to show cause was before the Supreme Court the opinion then delivered stated that the decision pronounced upon the first rule was the law of the case, and should have been followed upon the retrial of the cause. The opinion (43 Vroom 35), however, did more than this. It pointed out that, in addition to the rule as to the frequency of inspection laid down by the court in its first opinion, the court had also decided that there was nothing in the case to justify the conclusion that the defendant, in the exercise of a reasonable prudence, should have
The facts as to the occurrence by which the plaintiff in error received his injuries are the same upon this writ of errólas the jury then found them, but the rule of law as to the sort of care a master must exercise in safeguarding his servants is as the Supreme Court then announced it, namely, he must use reasonable care to discover defects in his plant and appliances by reason of which otherwise his servants may be injured.
Upon these facts two questions arise as to the master’s duty —first, whether it was his duty to inspect the electric light wire, the neglect of which duty occasioned the servant’s injury, and second,, whether, assuming such duty to exist, the master had properly performed it. Inasmuch as there had been no inspection, the case would seem to turn wholly upon the first question, and that in turn depends upon whether the master ought, in the exercise of reasonable care, to have foreseen that his failure to inspect the electric light wire might
We are brought therefore to the consideration of the question whether the occurrence by which the plaintiff was injured was in this sense extraordinary. The current carried by the electric light wire, as is fully demonstrated in the testimony, would of its own force or intensity injure 'no one. It would cause a tingling sensation, or, as the plaintiff expressed it, a jar or shock. The plaintiff was injured, not directly by this shock or current, but indirectly by what he was thereby led to do or to forget to do — that is, he was resting his hand on the mill, and the shock in some way caused him to get his hand between the rolls. The electric current, in order to reach the plaintiff’s hand, had to be communicated to the mill, and in order to reach the mill it had to be communicated to an iron pipe, and in order to reach this pipe a point of contact was necessary between such pipe and an exposed surface upon the wire that carried the current to the electric bulb, which would occur only in case the insulation was worn off, a process that required much friction and not a little time. Inasmuch as
We note the extraordinary character of this chain of circumstances not for the purpose of throwing doubt upon the fact of their occurrence, but for the purpose of determining whether the occurrences themselves were of such an ordinary and reasonably foreseeable nature that the master should, in the exercise of ordinary care, have foreseen them and have guarded against them by inspection, or whether they were of such an extraordinary nature that they were not included within the master’s duty, which was to exercise reasonable prevision.
The conclusion to which we have come, and which the Supreme Court reached whenever the matter was before it, is that the occurrence in question was an extraordinary one, so much so that it is not too strong an expression to describe it as being barely possible. The master’s duty, however, was to
While this conclusion disposes of this writ of error, and results in affirming the judgment of the Supreme Court, it is deemed best to point out specifically that the part played by the electric current in the production of the plaintiff’s injury does not, either upon the facts or upon principle, bring the ease within the rule respecting the high degree of care required in the use of a deadly or dangerous current of electricity. By the undisputed testimony the effect produced on the human body by an electric light current of one hundred and ten volts is trifling and in itself entirely non-injurious. One witness said: “I took hold of the bare ends of two one-hundred-and-ten-volt wires and I could feel a tingling sensation up that far,” indicating on his arm. This description does not differ materially from the plaintiff’s own account of his accident. The plaintiff therefore was not directly injured by the intensity of the electrical current which was transmitted to his hand, but by its indirect effect upon his behavior and presence of mind. The case therefore does not involve injuries resulting from the direct physical effect of a dangerous agency, but indirect effects that are largely psychological, the physical element, though present, being of itself non-injurious. The matter is thus specifically mentioned to guard against the error of supposing that by our present decision we are in any way subtracting from the rule with respect to agencies that are, unless properly watched, dangerous per se.
It should further be said, in order to dispose of all the points raised, that the testimony produced at the trial to the effect that here and there a manufacturer made an inspection
Finding no error in the judicial ruling by which a verdict for the defendant was directed, the judgment of the Supreme Court is affirmed.
For affirmance — Magie, Chancellor, The Chief Justice, Garrison, Hendrickson, Pitney, Swayze, Trenohard, Bogert, Yredenburgh, Green, Gray, Dill, J.J. 12.
For reversal — None.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- COLON FULTON, IN ERROR v. GRIEB RUBBER COMPANY, IN ERROR
- Status
- Published