Gulf, C. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. Smith
Gulf, C. & S. F. Ry. Co. v. Smith
Opinion of the Court
This suit was brought by appellee to recover damages of appellant for injury to his eyes by reason of creosote splashing therein while unloading ties that had been saturated therewith. Plaintiff’s allegations, in effect, were: That he was an employé of appellant, engaged at the time in unloading creosoted ties from a ear at Celeste, Tex. That said ties had been treated with a preparation called creosote, the ingredients of which were to plaintiff unknown, but which was poisonous and dangerous to the eyes; the dangerous character thereof being unknown to plaintiff. That the defendant had loaded into the bottom of the car ties saturated with the said creosote, and loaded dry ties on top; or else, had loaded all of the ties while they were wet with creosote, and the creosote from the ties on top had dripped down onto the ties on the bottom, and that, in either event, the ties in the car, except those in the bottom, were dry, and that those in the bottom of the car were saturated and wet with said creosote, all of which was unknown to plaintiff when he engaged in said work. That in unloading the ties it was necessary for those engaged to stoop, bringing their faces near the ties, and that when the ties were saturated with said creosote, and another tie is dropped on such a tie, creosote will splash up, and might reasonably be expected to get into the eyes of those engaged in said work. That the wet and slippery condition of the ties in the bottom of the car was not observable to or seen by plaintiff, and that when he took hold of a tie lying on the top of another tie in the bottom of the car, the bottom of the tie he took hold of and the top of the one it was lying on were wet and saturated with the said creosote, as aforesaid, and the top tie was slippery by reason thereof, which he did not know. That, when he lifted the top tie, his hands slipped from the same, and it dropped back and struck the bottom tie, causing the creosote accumulated on the top of the bottom tie to splash into plaintiff’s eyes, resulting in the injuries complained of. The negligence relied on was the permitting of the ties in the bottom of the car to be wet and saturated with said poisonous creosote, without notice to plaintiff thereof, and directing him to work therein and handle said ties, in said condition; the last paragraph of his petition being as follows: “That the proper and safe way to handle * * * the ties was to permit the creosote to dry before loading the same, and that this plaintiff had not theretofore been called upon to unload any ties that had not been dried; and that plaintiff did not notice until he took hold of said tie that the bottom of it was wet, or that the tie under it was saturated with said preparation; that the defendant had caused said ties to be loaded * * * in the manner aforesaid; * * * that the causing or permitting of said ties to be in the condition herein alleged rendered the place where and the appliances with which plaintiff was required to labor not reasonably safe for his use; that defendant’s foreman in charge of such work expressly directed this plaintiff to do the same, and this plaintiff relied on the performance by the defendant of its duty to use ordinary care in furnishing him with a reasonably safe place to work, and did not inspect the said place before engaging in said work.”
Defendant answered by general denial, plea of contributory negligence, special plea that plaintiff was negligent in permitting the tie to slip and drop from his hand, when the alleged wet condition of said tie and the one immediately underneath was in no way concealed, but on the contrary was patent and obvious. The failure of plaintiff to give his alleged injured eye the proper medical attention immediately after the injury, or within a reasonable time thereafter, and by special plea that any and all danger attending the unloading of the ties in their alleged wet condition was open, patent, and obvious, and any such risk attending such work of unloading the ties was such as could be easily seen and appreciated by the plaintiff, and that he assumed the risk of any such injury while engaged in this work.
A trial resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of plaintiff for $750, and the defendant appeals.
The evidence adduced on the trial sustains the material allegations of plaintiff’s petition.
Appellant presents two assignments of error. The first is that the court erred in refusing to give a peremptory instruction to the jury to find for defendant, because under the evidence the plaintiff was not enti- *822 tied to recover. The second assignment is, in effect, that the court erred in not granting it a new trial on the ground of the insufficiency of the evidence. We will therefore only consider the sufficiency of the testimony to sustain the judgment.
The first proposition made by appellant is that: “Where the uncontradicted testimony showed, as it did in this case, first, that if the plaintiff had got creosote in his eyes, the instantaneous effect thereof would be intense and severe pain, and, second, that plaintiff exhibited no signs of such pain immediately after the time of the alleged mishap, but, on the contrary, made no complaint of such injury, the evidence as to whether or not plaintiff sustained the injury as alleged was in such a state that reasonable minds could not differ as to the effect thereof, and the trial court therefore should have given a peremptory instruction for the defendant.” The plaintiff testified to getting creosote in his eyes, and there was no direct testimony’ contradicting his statement. As to the immediate effect creosote getting into the eyes would produce the evidence to some extent was conflicting; but we think there was sufficient evidence to warrant the verdict of the jury.
The evidence supports the verdict of the jury, and the judgment is affirmed.
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