Armour & Co. v. Harcrow
Opinion of the Court
Armour & Co., a corporation, complain that the court below erroneously refused to direct a verdict in its favor at the close of the evidence and permitted a judgment against it on the verdict of the jury in this case for $2,750.
The action was for negligence. The only alleged negligence of the defendant submitted to the jury was a failure to provide sufficient light for the plaintiff to work by. The accident was the falling of something which the plaintiff did not see, but testified was rust or rusty iron, from an iron corbel, through a hole in which he was boring a hole or inserting a lag screw into a joist above it with his face upturned beneath it. The court charged the jury that, unless the plaintiff had proved that the accident and the injury to the plaintiff were directly caused by the defendant’s failure to provide him sufficient light, he could not recover, and the defendant insists that it was the duty of the court to instruct the jury in its favor, because there was no substantial evidence that the lack of more light was the direct cause of the injury. The great preponderance 'of the evidence was that the room in which.the plaintiff was working was sufficiently lighted, but the evidence to that effect is laid aside, and the case is considered and decided on the undisputed facts and the evidence for the plaintiff. The material facts of the case derived from these sources are these:
The defendant was engaged in repairing its beef extract room, which was 11 feet and 4 inches high from the floor to the joists and 110 feet long by 86 feet wide. There was at the time of the accident no ceiling to the room, and the employés of the defendant were removing the old and putting in new joists, which rested on iron corbels, each of which was supported by a post and had two arms or brackets, one extending each side of the post. In each of these arms and about 6 inches from the post there was a hole about three-eighths of an inch in diameter through which a lag screw was driven into the joist above the corbel about 3 inches to hold the joist in place. In the division of the labor of making these repairs the plaintiff was assigned to the duty of boring the holes in the new joists for these screws and screwing them up into their places. While doing this work he stood on a ladder, placed his bit through the holes in the corbels, bored the necessary holes in the joists and then inserted the lag screws. Plaintiff was a carpenter, and had been engaged in rough carpenter work for 14 years. He had assisted in remodeling and repairing old wooden structures, and had done such work as taking out old timbers and
“Every time I take out the old girders there would be dust — pieces of dust or rust fly off.” “Q. Well, do you say you did or did not know that all the eastings were rusty and the rust was liable to fall off the eastings? A. Sure, the castings bound to be rusty. Q. Well, you knew that, didn’t you? A. Couldn’t think anything else bnt know they were rusty to some extent, but not shattering. Q. Not what? A. Not shattering, so a man couldn’t work under them.”
He testified that he had bored six or eight holes before the accident happened; that it was dark all day, so dark that he could not see the holes in the corbels; that he found the holes by feeling for them and inserting his fingers in them; that after that he inserted his bit in the holes and had no trouble in boring the wood; that about 11 o’clock he went to his foreman and told him he would have to have some light there — couldn’t see how to do the work, and really dangerous for a man to work there — and the foreman said he would get lights; that he made a like complaint and received a similar answer about 1 in the afternoon; and that he would not have continued to work if the promises had not been made. The foreman never furnished more light. Was there any substantial evidence in the facts and testimony recited that insufficient light was the proximate or direct cause of the fall of the rust or rusty iron into the eye of the plaintiff ?
The accident did not tend to prove that it was caused by the absence of light. The plaintiff alleged, and the burden was on him to prove, that it was. The doctrine res ipsa loquitur is inapplicable to cases between master and servant brought to recover damages for negligence. Cryder v. Chicago, R. I. & R. Ry. Co., 152 Fed. 417, 419, 81 C. C. A. 559, 561; Chicago & N. W. Ry. Co. v. O’Brien, 132 Fed. 593, 596, 598, 67 C. C. A. 421, 424, 426. And where the evidence leaves the issue whether or not an injury was caused by an act of negligence to speculation without substantial evidence to sustain the averment that it was, it is the duty of the court to instruct the jury to return a verdict for the defendant. Patton v. Texas & Pacific R. R. Co., 179 U. S. 658, 663, 21 Sup. Ct. 275, 45 L. Ed. 361.
The judgment below must therefore be reversed, and the case must be remanded to the court below, with directions to grant a new trial.
It is so ordered.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ARMOUR & CO. v. HARCROW
- Cited By
- 13 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- (Syllabus 5y the Court.) 1. Negligence (§ 136*) — Trial—Direction oe Verdict — Evidence. When the evidence leaves the averment that an injury was caused by an act of negligence to speculation, without substantial evidence to sustain it, it is the duty of the court to instruct the jury to return a verdict for the defendant. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Negligence, Cent. Dig. §§ 277-353; Dec. Dig. § 136.*] 2. Negligence (§§ 58, 59*) — Actionable Negligence — Proximate Cause —: “Natural Consequence” — “Probable Consequence.” An injury which is the natural and probable cause of an act of negligence is actionable, and such an act is the proximate cause of the injury. But an injury that could not have been foreseen nor reasonably anticipated as the probable result of an act of negligence is not actionable, and such an act is either the remote cause or no cause whatever of the injury. The “natural consequence” of an act is the consequence which ordinarily follows it, the result which may reasonably be anticipated from it. A “probable1 consequence” is one that is more likely to follow its supposed cause than it is not to follow it. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Negligence, Cent. Dig/ §§ 71, 72; Dec. Dig. §§ 58, 59.* For other definitions, see Words and Phrases, First and Second Series, Natural Consequences; Probable Consequence.] 3. Master and Servant (§ 265*) — Injury to Servant — Res Ipsa Loquitur. The doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is inapplicable to cases between master and servant brought to recover damages for negligence, and the burden is on the plaintiff to allege and prove that the act of negligence of which he complains was the proximate cause of the injury. [Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Master and Servant, Cent. Dig. §§ 877-908, 955; Dec. Dig. § 265.* Application of doctrine of res ipsa loquitur in actions for injuries to servants, see note to Carnegie Steel Co. v. Byers, 82 C. C. A. 121.] 4. Master and Servant (§ 285*) — Injury to Servant — Safe Place to Work —Proximate Cause — Sufficiency of Evidence. The plaintiff, a carpenter, was employed boring holes and inserting lag screws into joists, which rested on iron corbels on posts, through holes in the arms of the corbels about six inches from the posts. He stood on 'a ladder, with his face upturned, within about two feet of the corbel, boring a hole or inserting a lag screw, when a piece of rust or rusty iron fell from, the corbel into one of his eyes and blinded it. The work in process was the repair of a beef extract room, by taking out old joists and putting in new ones. He knew that the corbels were rusty, and that dust and pieces of rust fell when the old joists were taken out. The room was so dark that he could not see the holes in the corbels, but he found them by feeling for them and inserting his fingers in them, and snieeessfully bored six or eight holes, and inserted lag screws, when, alter working from 10 a. m. until 5 p. in., the accident happened. At 11 in the forenoon and at 1 in the afternoon he had asked his foreman for more light, and had told him it was dangerous to work without it, and the foreman had promised to furnish light, but did not. Held, here was no substantial evidence that the lack of light was the proximate cause of the accident, that the evidence left the issue whether or not the injury was caused by the lack of light to the mere speculation of the jury, and the court should have given a peremptory instruction for the defendant. , LEd. Note. — For other eases, see Master and Servant, Cent. Dig. §§ 1002, 1003, 1007,'1008, 1016, 1035, 1043, 1053; Dec. Dig. § 285.*]