Alsaker v. DeGraff Lumber Co.

48 N.W.2d 431, 234 Minn. 280, 1951 Minn. LEXIS 703
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJune 8, 1951
DocketNo. 35,292
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 48 N.W.2d 431 (Alsaker v. DeGraff Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alsaker v. DeGraff Lumber Co., 48 N.W.2d 431, 234 Minn. 280, 1951 Minn. LEXIS 703 (Mich. 1951).

Opinion

Magney, Justice.

Verdict for the plaintiff. On defendant’s alternative motion for judgment or a new trial, judgment was granted notwithstanding the verdict. Plaintiff appeals.

DeGraff Lumber Company, a corporation, is engaged in the retail lumber business at DeGraff, this state. It is the owner of a Wilson electric saw which is mounted on a bench. The circular blade of the saw is connected directly with the shaft of an electric 5-horse-power motor. Defendant’s lumber shed runs north and south, and the saw bench was set in the center driveway lengthwise of it. The bench is equipped with a carrier. When boards are to be ripped, they are placed on the carrier and shoved through the saw, from left to right, or from north to south. The saw blade revolves clockwise, that is, up toward the work.

Lloyd Elliott is a farmer who lives in the vicinity. He was about to build a new barn and consulted John M. McCarthy, president of defendant, about furnishing the lumber. His plans called for curved rafters. Defendant had no curved rafters in stock. McCarthy suggested that Elliott get in touch with Carl Amundson, the only man in that area who knew how to make curved rafters and who had made several sets on defendant’s saw rig. Elliott and Amundson got in touch with each other, and Amundson was employed by Elliott. Defendant furnished Elliott with inch boards 12 inches wide and 16 feet long. On the Saturday before the accident, Amundson, with assistance, ripped four inches off the boards and then cut them in two, thus making two boards 8 feet long and 8 inches wide. On Monday morning, June 27, 1949, Amundson, his son Harris, and plaintiff went to defendant’s lumber shed to cut out the curved rafters. All the men were employed and paid by Elliott. Amundson first made a form or a jig, which was to be placed underneath the blade of the saw and so contrived that an 8-foot board could be passed through the saw and cut on a curve. After the form had been made, the men commenced sawing curved rafters. Amundson was feeding the saw. Plaintiff was taking the 8-foot boards to him from a stock pile of such boards placed north. [282]*282of the bench. Harris was taking away the curved boards and also nailing them together. Two curved boards were put together, staggered, and nailed. In the afternoon, one Alfred Hanson came along, and Amundson asked him to help. At first he nailed the rafters, then took boards away from the saw while Harris nailed. A board had been pushed through the saw. Hanson was trying to take it away; in so doing he fumbled, and the board came in contact with the saw. A piece of board was caught by it and thrown off, striking plaintiff and seriously injuring him.

If the saw had at the time been protected by the guard especially made for it, the accident would not have happened. This guard consists of a metal bar 16 inches long with a movable foot or claw at the end of it. This foot-like arrangement operates on a swivel. When a board has passed through the saw, the guard drops down and blocks the board from coming back and getting in contact with the saw again. The guard is part of the regular equipment. Amundson testified that at the times he had operated the saw he had never seen a guard attached to it. Harris said he had never seen the guard on the saw rig. McCarthy and Reagan, his yard foreman, both said that the guard was always on the saw when Amundson operated it. There was testimony by a witness for plaintiff that after the accident Reagan dug the guard out from old sawdust on the floor and put it in place, while Reagan claims that the guard was never off the machine; that it was on the machine on the preceding Saturday morning; and that after the accident it was lying on the floor near the table. McCarthy’s testimony was to the same effect. It is difficult to believe that this conflict in testimony is based on faulty honest recollection. Re that as it may, such discrepancy has no bearing on the disposition which we are making of the case. The evidence supports the claim that the guard was not in place at the time of the accident.

It was not a part of the deal with Elliott that defendant should furnish the crew to turn these boards into curved rafters. All defendant furnished was the lumber and the use of the saw rig. [283]*283Neither McCarthy nor Reagan directed the men how the work was to be done. Defendant furnished no supervision of any kind. All McCarthy did was to point out the lumber to be used for the pur-, pose and what disposition to be made of the small pieces and the refuse. On the day of the accident he was not at the lumberyard.

We have probably gone into too much detail in setting out the facts, but it seems desirable to have a complete picture presented. On the facts as above set out, the court ordered judgment for defendant notwithstanding the verdict.

At the request of counsel for plaintiff, the question of common-law liability, if any, was not submitted to the jury. The only question involved here, therefore, is whether M. S. A. 182.01 applies to this defendant under the facts as outlined. If it does apply, the court was in error in granting the motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. If it does not apply to defendant under our facts, the ruling of the court was correct.

Section 182.01, insofar as applicable here, reads as follows:

“* * * all dangerous parts of machinery; * * * in any factory, * * * mill, workshop, * * * or other places where persons are employed, or otherwise engaged, shall be fenced, boxed, or otherwise protected to the fullest degree practicable.”

Plaintiff contends that defendant was guilty of negligence in failing to provide a guard for the saw, in violation of the statute. He argues that he was there with the express consent of defendant, working for its benefit, because one of the conditions of the agreement between defendant and Elliott was that the curved rafters were to be fabricated under defendant’s supervision at its yard and delivered in a finished condition to Elliott’s farm, and that the control and direction of the men doing the work was with defendant. The record does not bear out any of the above contentions, except the one that plaintiff was there at the express consent of defendant. There was no agreement that the rafters were to be fabricated under defendant’s supervision, and they were in fact not fabricated under its supervision. All that defendant did was: [284]*284to permit Elliott through his own hired men to use the saw rig located on its premises.

Plaintiff relies on Kanz v. J. Neils Lbr. Co. 114 Minn. 466, 131 N. W. 643, 36 L.R.A. (N.S.) 269, decided in 1911. In that case defendant owned a sawmill. In addition to the usual machinery, it was equipped with saws for the cutting of slabs into lath stock. Defendant and one John Kreiling entered into a contract by the terms of which Kreiling agreed to manufacture into lath such material as defendant desired at an agreed price per thousand. Defendant was to furnish all machinery and supplies, Kreiling to do the millwright work that was necessary to keep the machinery in the lath mill in good running order, and to hire and pay one man to attend .to the slasher. Plaintiff was hired by Kreiling and did work on the slasher. The table and saws of the slasher were not in the lath mill. While working on the slasher, plaintiff was injured by stepping into one of the holes in which there were sprocket wheels that carried chains.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 N.W.2d 431, 234 Minn. 280, 1951 Minn. LEXIS 703, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alsaker-v-degraff-lumber-co-minn-1951.