Cole v. Spokane Gas & Fuel Co.
Cole v. Spokane Gas & Fuel Co.
Opinion of the Court
Appellant was a stoker in the employ of respondent. He brought this action to recover compensation for injuries which he says resulted from respondent’s negligence. The case is predicated upon the legal principle
A careful review of the evidence convinces us that there can be no doubt of the correctness of the court’s judgment. There is no evidence to sustain counsel’s theory that the accident occurred because some of the rivets attaching the handle to the pan were out. Appellant’s own testimony does not sustain this theory. He says that the right hand handle slipped in his hand; that he made a “kind of a grab,” and that he “grabbed for a new hold,” when he lost it altogether. Appellant had used the pan for some time before the accident happened, and it was used for two or three days thereafter. It is not shown by any evidence that the loss of the rivets in any way impaired the usefulness of the instrument. Appellant admits that his gloves were wet, and it is as likely, or more likely, from the evidence that the accident
The doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is invoked. Under that doctrine it has been held that certain facts, when established, will speak negligence and put the burden of disproving it upon the party charged. It has never been carried to the extent of raising a presumption of negligence from the mere fact of injury. It is the facts from which the injury resulted and not the injury, that sets the doctrine in motion.
Judgment affirmed.
Dunbar, C. J., Crow, Morris, and Ellis, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Wesley F. Cole v. Spokane Gas and Fuel Company
- Cited By
- 14 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Master and Servant — Safe Appliances — Simple Instruments— Assumption of Risks. The evidence is insufficient to sustain a recovery in an action by a stoker for injuries sustained in the fall of a pan he was carrying by reason of alleged defects in the handle through the loss of rivets, where there was no evidence that such condition impaired its safety, the plaintiffs evidence showed that the handles slipped from his hand, and that from constant use, he h.ad equal means of knowledge as to any defects in the handle; since it was an implement of simple construction which does not come within the rule of safe instrumentalities. Master and Servant — Negligence—Presumption. The doctrine •of res ipsa loquitur does not go to the extent of raising a presumption of negligence from the mere fact of an injury, but only that •certain facts, when established, speak negligence.