Coll v. Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.
Coll v. Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The plaintiff had been in defendant’s employ a month or more before he received his injury. During this period, by occasional use of a certain sawing machine in the shops of the defendant, he had become familiar with its construction and the method of operating it. While absent several days from his work, the defendant changed the construction of the machine, with a view to make it more convenient and easier to operate. No notice of this change was given to the defendant. When he resumed his work, and while using the machine in a way which would be attended with no risk whatever had the machine not been changed, he received his injury. The verdict involves a distinct finding that the plaintiff was without notice or knowledge of the change; that ordinary care and prudence on his part would not have discovered the change; and that no negligence of his contributed to the injury. The learned trial judge held that the defendant having made the change in the machine, a duty rested upon it to advise the plaintiff of the fact. This is com
In the statement of the cause of action the machine was
Reference
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- Coll v. Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company
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- 14 cases
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- Syllabus
- Negligence — Master and servant — Machinery—Change in construction of machine. 1. Where an employer during the absence of an employee changes the construction of a machine and the employee on his return resumes his work without notice of the change, and while using the machine in a way which would have been attended with no risk whatever had the machine not been changed is injured, the employer is liable for the injury sustained. In such a case it is immaterial that the employee is a mature and experienced workman, or that the effect of the change was to reduce the risk of accident to the employees generally who worked upon the machine. Negligence — Statement of claim — Amendment. 2. In an action of trespass to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by an employee at a machine which had been changed during his absence and without his knowledge, an amendment to the statement of claim may be allowed more than two years after the accident which does not change the negligence charged, viz., failure to give notice of the change in the machine, but merely sets forth more accurately the effect produced by the change in its relation to the accident.