Connolly v. Union League
Connolly v. Union League
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
In the club house of the defendant there is a shaft running through the various floors of the building and áffording space for the working of a double dumb-waiter apparatus. The Philadelphia Fire Proof Company contracted to line this shaft with fire proofing material, and it sent the plaintiff, its employee, to do the work. The dumb-waiters were box-shaped compartments six feet long and about two feet square, and were operated by a cable running over a grooved iron drum at the top of the shaft, and were so arranged that one of the boxes or cars went up as the other came down. They were operated by electric power, and when the plaintiff went to work upon the shaft he inspected the surroundings and requested the electric power to be turned off, and thereafter moved the waiters up and down by hand power as the progress of his work required. The dumb-waiters were intended to carry food and supplies from floor to floor, and were not intended to carry passengers. When the plaintiff had been engaged upon the work for several days, and while he was working near the bottom of the shaft, one of the dumb-waiter cars or boxes, which at the time was suspended above him, fell and injured him severely. He brought this suit to recover damages, alleging negligence by the defendant in not maintaining the car and its attachments in good and safe condition. At the trial of the cause judgment of nonsuit was entered which the court in banc, after argument, refused to remove.
The question is, was there any evidence of negligence which ought to have been left to the jury ? The accident resulted
Our examination of the evidence has not disclosed anything from which negligence upon the part of the defendant might properly be inferred. We agree with the learned judge of the court below, that the nonsuit was properly entered, and the judgment is afiirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Connolly v. Union League of Philadelphia
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- Syllabus
- Negligence — Proof—Unanticipated accident — Assumption of risk. In order that there may be recovery of damages therefor, negligence must be proven; it is not to be assumed from thé mere happening of an accident. Where the owner of premises makes no representation as to the condition of a cable, and where the workman employed by an independent contractor to repair a shaft in which it runs, makes his own examination of the surroundings, and satisfied himself as to the safety of the applianees, and has full control of them, the owner is not responsible for damages resulting from the breaking of the cable, where no reason to anticipate such breaking is shown, and no satisfactory reason therefor appears. This is particularly true where it appears that the workman was engaged for days in the shaft, working within reach of the cable, and discovered no defect in it, made no complaint and took no precautions to avoid possible injury to himself from the breaking.