Hamlet v. E. I. Dupont de Nemours & Co.
Hamlet v. E. I. Dupont de Nemours & Co.
Opinion of the Court
after making the foregoing statement delivered the following opinion of the court:
The parties will be referred to as plaintiff and defendant in accordance with their positions in the court below.
There is no difference between counsel for the respective parties in regard to the law of the case. The difference between them consists indeed chiefly in their view as to what facts are alleged in the declaration.
The case was submitted without oral argument and the positions taken before us in the brief for the defendant will be disposed of in their order as stated below:
But the declaration alleges that the unsafe and dangerous condition of the place of work “was unknown to the plaintiff and by the exercise of reasonable care could not have been known to him in time to have avoided the injury.” There may have been circumstances attending the particular character of the tank-work, and the consequent danger to the plaintiff in his place of work nearby, which were actually or constructively known to the defendant but were neither actually nor constructively known to the plaintiff, and which may have prevented the danger in question from being open and obvious to the latter. At any rate the declaration so alleges. Hence, upon demurrer to the declaration the court cannot say that the allegation that the unsafe and dangerous condition was neither actually nor constructively known to the plaintiff, is without foundation in fact. And so the court, cannot say, as a matter of law, that the danger was open and obvious to the plaintiff.
The declaration, in substance, alleges that the defect in the scaffold was in its plan of construction and that — as designed and built in accordance with such design — it was unreasonably inadequate to serve the purpose for which it was constructed. The declaration, therefore, negatives
The allegations of the declaration plainly negative this assumption.
But the “attending circumstances” as alleged in the declaration negative this position also. It may or may not develop that the attending circumstances, as they may be shown on the trial, if one be had, may sustain such position. That, however, cannot be said of such circumstances as they are alleged in the declaration.
But whether such was an independent intervening cause, would of course depend on whether there was culpable negligence on the part of the defendant in the matter of the ■alleged inadequacy of the design or plans in accordance with which it constructed the scaffold, which, it is alleged, was a contributing cause of the falling of the men and of their loss of control of the iron band, etc. If there was such negligence, it arose from the fact that the defendant, under the circumstances, ought reasonably to have foreseen
The case will be reversed and remanded for trial upon the last amended declaration filed therein.
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Hamlet v. E. I. Dupont de Nemours and Company
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- 1 case
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- Syllabus
- 1. Master and Servant. — Declaration—Assumption of Bisk — Open and Obvious Danger.- — In an action by a servant for personal injuries due to a defective scaffold, the declaration alleged that the unsafe and dangerous condition of the place of work “was unknown to the plaintiff and by the exercise of reasonable care could not have been known to him in time to have avoided the injury.” - Held: That on demurrer to the declaration the court could not say that this allegation was without foundation in fact, and that, as a matter of law, the danger was open and obvious to the plaintiff. 2. Master and Servant.. — Declaration.—In an action by a servant for personal injuries due to a defective scaffold, where the declaration, in substance, alleged that the defect in the scaffold was in its plan of construction, such allegation negatives the position that plaintiff was injured as a result of a changed and abnormal condition which arose during the progress of the work, the danger of which was readily discernible to plaintiff. 3. Master and Servant. — Declaration—Unavoidable Accident. — In an action by a servant for personal injuries due to a defective scaffold, the allegations of the declaration that defendant negligently failed to use reasonable care to provide and main- ■ tain a reasonably safe place in which the plaintiff was directed to work, that the scaffold which was the cause of the injury was too narrow and without any railing, and that defendant negligently failed to use reasonable care in the construction of the scaffold, negatived upon demurrer the position taken by defendant that the injury, to the plaintiff was the result of an unavoidable accident. 4. Master and Servant. — Declaration — Proximate Cause. — Upon demurrer to a declaration in an action by a servant for personal injuries, defendant’s position was that the breach of duty alleged in the declaration was not the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury because the defendant could not have foreseen “in the light of attending circumstances” that the negligence charged “might naturally and probably produce the injury.” Held: That the “attending circumstances,” as alleged in the declaration, negatived this position of defendant. 5. Master and Servant. — Proximate and Remote Cause — Intervening Cause. — In an action by a servant for personal injuries sustained when two of his fellow servants fell from a scaffold losing their hold of an iron band which struck the plaintiff, defendant urged that the plaintiff’s injury was due to an independent intervening cause, to-wit, the action of the fellow servants in falling and losing their hold on the iron band. Held: Whether such was an independent intervening cause would depend on whether there was culpable negligence on the part of .the defendant in the construction of the scaffold, which, it was alleged, was the cause of the men falling, and upon demurrer it could not be said that the allegations of the declaration presented a case in which it appeared that defendant was free from such negligence.