McGroarty v. Wanamaker
McGroarty v. Wanamaker
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
An elevator operated by plaintiff having given indications that it was out of order, plaintiff reported the fact to Thompson, manager of the mechanical department of defendant’s business, and Thompson directed Blackman, who was employed as a practical machinist, to fix it. The next morning Blackman having finished his work on the elevator was asked by plaintiff if it was safe to run and replied that it was, but not to load it too heavy. Plaintiff then resumed his occupation, but at the third trip the elevator fell and injured him. The learned judge below submitted the question of defendants’ liability to the jury.
The assignments of error are principally to the answers to points and to the submission of the case to the jury, instead of giving a binding direction for defendants. It is not claimed that the points affirmed were not correct as general propositions of law, but that they were not applied with sufficient limitations to the present case. The stress of the argument of appellants is stated in the proposition that “ a workman ordered to desist from work until repairs are made, cannot, except at his own risk, resume work until the repairs have been declared to be satisfactory by the master or a vice-principal, or until a sufficient time has elapsed to charge the master with knowledge of their insufficiency,” or, as applied to the facts of this case, that Thompson was the vice principal and Blackman a mere co-employee, and that plaintiff, having been directed by Thompson not to run the elevator until it was repaired, should have
The real question in the case was whether the repairs made on this and previous occasions were not superficial and inadequate, in view of the evidence that the elevator was old and nearly worn out in important parts, and in plain need of a general and critical overhauling. This question was properly submitted to the jury. It could not have been taken away from them on the evidence presented.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Charles McGroarty v. John and Thomas B. Wanamaker, Robert C. Ogden and L. Rodman Wanamaker, trading as John Wanamaker
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Negligence — Master and servant — Vice principal — Province of court and jury — Elevator. In an action by an employee against his employer to recover damages for personal injuries caused by the fall of an elevator, it appeared that the plaintiff who operated the elevator reported to defendant’s manager that it was defective. The manager directed a machinist to fix it. After the machinist had finished his work plaintiff asked him whether it was safe to run the elevator, and the machinist replied that it was. The manager testified that the machinist was intrusted by him with the entire discretion as to what repairs to make, and how to make them, and that it was perfectly proper for him to tell plaintiff to run the elevator after it was fixed. Held, that it was for the jury to determine whether plaintiff was bound to inquire any further. In an action to recover damages for injuries caused by the fall of an elevator, the case is for the jury where it appears that the plaintiff operated it for the defendants; that it was old, nearly worn out in important parts, and in plain need of a general and critical overhauling, and that repairs, made shortly before the accident, and on previous occasions, were superficial and inadequate.