Allen v. Green Bay Manufacturing Co.
Allen v. Green Bay Manufacturing Co.
Opinion of the Court
Was there any sound basis in the evidence for submitting the cause to the jury on the theory that it was inferable that appellant failed to exercise ordinary care in not informing respondent of the slight trembling of the saw table, and that such fault was the proximate cause of the accident without any want of ordinary care on respondent’s part proximately contributing thereto ? Much as we respect the judgment of the able circuit judge who presided at the trial, we confess that if such basis exist we cannot discover it. We are constrained to hold that the trial judge grievously erred.
The case, as indicated in the statement, was once tried on the theory of negligence in using an uncovered saw. That
The evidence shows that the saw. arbor and connections rested on a solid foundation not attached to the saw table or the floor. Therefore, the trembling must have been communicated from the floor and, probably, was partly caused by the motion of the machinery, in general, of‘the factory. It does not seem possible such trembling could have existed without being observed by respondent, certainly as well as by appellant’s vice-principal. If it caused pieces of wood to move around on the table or backward toward the point of the up-spring of the saw teeth, it was right before respondent’s eyes. He could not have avoided seeing it had he paid any reasonable attention to his surroundings, which by a very familiar rule, he was bound to do or to take the consequences of his negligence. The reason why he could not recover, on the first trial, was because he knew perfectly well the saw was unguarded and was liable to throw toward him any piece of wood which might come in the way of the teeth from the point where they come up through the table to where they turned down in front. Why, then, was there any question to submit to the jury involving mere means by which such interferences were liable to occur so long as the operation of such means was obvious to ordinary attention? It seems quite illogical to hold there was negligence and contributory negligence in the first situation and negligence and no contributory negligence
By the Oowrt.- — The judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded with directions to dismiss the same with costs.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Allen v. Green Bay Manufacturing Company
- Status
- Published