Galveston, H. & S. A. Ry. Co. v. Brown
Galveston, H. & S. A. Ry. Co. v. Brown
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit for damages instituted by appellee against appellant, alleged to have accrued by reáson of the negligence of appellant in failing to furnish a sufficient number of men to lift a máin crank pin off a truck to a drill press, and which ap-pellee had been ordered by his foreman to lift. Appellant alleged that appellee assumed the risk of lifting the pin, the size and weight of which was apparent to him. The cause was tried by jury and resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of appellee in the sum of $11,500.
The evidence shows that appellee, a man 33 years of age, was what is termed a machinist helper in the roundhouse of appellant in the city of San Antonio, and had worked in that capacity about two months. Carnegie was roundhouse foreman, and Blaine was machine shop foreman. Appellee, Pope, and Vargas were members of the same crew, and were under the control and supervision of Carnegie. In the forenoon of April 4, 1913, Carnegie sent appellee over to the machine shops to help move a press, and while waiting there Vargas came with a two-wheel truck on which was lying a steel crank pin. Carnegie ordered appellee to help Vargas to lift the crank pin off the truck and put it on the drill press, which was close by. Appellee complied and endeavored to do as ordered. On his first effort he lifted his end about 18 or 20 inches from the truck, which was pulled away by Blaine, and then he could lift it no further, and he called for help, and the foreman ordered him not to turn the pin loose. Appellee was afraid to turn it loose for fear it would mash his feet or those of Vargas. The pin was a smooth piece of steel weighing 280 pounds, and it was about 1 foot in diameter at one end and 5 or 6 inches at the other, and was about 4 feet long. Appellee took hold of the large end. Three men beside Vargas and appellee were standing close by when appellee was ordered to take hold of the pin and complied with the order. When he called for help, Pope, another employ®, made one step, and laid hold of the pin and assisted appellee. Appellee was greating damaged by the strain of lifting the pin. The pin was too heavy for two men to lift, and appellee did not know this fact until he had lifted it into a position from which he could not safely drop it, and from which he was commanded by a vice principal of appellant not to drop it. Carnegie evidently thought the pin too heavy for two men to handle because he at first ordered three men to the place to lift the pin.
“He is bound to see that the number of servants engaged upon the work in hand remains sufficient to insure the reasonable safety of each of them. This principle affects him with liability not only where he allows the force of em-ployés, considered as a whole, to fall below the proper aggregate, but also where he fails to assign an adequate number of men to each par *240 ticular piece of work .which may he undertaken from time to time.”
The opinion is sustained by a long line of authorities cited therein. As said again in that case:
“The principle of law which imposes this duty upon the master has been asserted and applied in cases ranging from the navigation of an ocean steamer and the operation of a railway train to the lifting of a log or the turning of a stone.”
As stated by Labatt (Master & Servant, § 1107), it is the duty of the master to employ “a staff of servants sufficiently large to perform the work with reasonable safety to themselves.” The rule is too well settled for further discussion, and it becomes merely a question of fact as to whether, under the circumstances arising in this case, appellant was liable under the application of the rule.
The tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth assignments of error are overruled. The issue sought to be interpolated by the special charge was not raised by the facts. It is a peculiar state of case when appellant claims that a man who had never handled such appliances before was charged with knowledge of its weight, and yet an old experienced foreman who had been handling many such appliances knew nothing about it.
The charge complained of in the eighteenth assignment of error was the law of the case, as hereinbefore indicated, and the assignment is overruled.
If the appellee enters a remittitur of $4,- *241 000 within 14 days, the judgment wiil be affirmed for the reduced amount of $7,500, otherwise it will be reversed, and the cause remanded.
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