Carll v. Brown
Carll v. Brown
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This is an appeal from the refusal of the court below to take off a judgment of compulsory nonsuit. The defendant was charged with negligence in failing to properly guard dangerous machinery. The trial judge entered judgment of compulsory nonsuit on the ground of contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff. The latter was employed to clean up the floor of defendant’s saw mill after the day’s work was finished, and to oil the machinery. An oil cup was located three or four inches below the point where the cogs of a vertical and a horizontal shaft intermeshed. In order to reach the cup plaintiff would get up on the table which held the rolls, reach over the shaft, holding the oil can in his right hand, and pour the oil into the cup. He did this when the band-saw was being changed, which occurred once or twice a day. At that time the rolls were stopped, but the shafts continued in motion all day. Plaintiff was not instructed to oil the shaft in this way or in any particular way, but merely to oil the rolls and the shafting. He worked at the mill cleaning up ,in the evening and might have oiled the shaft at that time with perfect safety. It was necessary to oil but once a day. On the day of the accident, it appears that while the shafts and cogs were in motion, plaintiff got upon the table on his knees, placed his left hand on top of the table and held the oil can in his right hand, reaching below the cogs as far as he could, and turned the can up to the oil box. In some way the spout caught in the cogs and plaintiff’s hand and arm were drawn in and injured. The court below was of opinion that “the plaintiff voluntarily and unnecessarily engaged in an apparently dangerous act in an obviously unusual and dangerous manner, and thereby became chargeable with contributory negligence.” An additional reason, was that he might have oiled the shaft with safety at a time when the mill was shut down. We agree with the conclusion reached by the trial judge. We can find nothing in the evidence to show any neces
The assignment of error is overruled, and the judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.