Altman-Rodgers Co. v. Rogers

48 S.W.2d 239, 185 Ark. 561, 1932 Ark. LEXIS 145
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedApril 4, 1932
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 48 S.W.2d 239 (Altman-Rodgers Co. v. Rogers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Altman-Rodgers Co. v. Rogers, 48 S.W.2d 239, 185 Ark. 561, 1932 Ark. LEXIS 145 (Ark. 1932).

Opinion

Mehaeey, J.

The appellee brought suit in the White Circuit Court against the appellants to recover damages for an injury received on October 23, 1930.

Appellee was employed by appellant as nightwatchman at appellant’s mixing plant in White County. He went on duty on October 23d about six p. m. His working hours were from 6 p. m. to 6 a. m. Appellee kindled a small fire about 50 yards from the crane where he was injured, and then went down to the detour where A. O. Lyles was on duty, detouring traffic.

In perfoiuning his duties, appellee would make trips about the premises at intervals, and, in connection with the performance' of his duties, he carried a lighted lantern. Appellant’s equipment included a crane, which was mounted on caterpillar tracks and operated by means of a gasoline motor. Underneath, the rear part of the crane was a gasoline tank of about 50 gallons capacity. This tank had to be filled from the inside of the crane.

Under the tank was a place from which gasoline could be drained out of the tank by unscrewing a three-eighths inch plug from a drain cock. The gasoline tank was filled from ten-gallon cans, which were kept in the oil house of appellant, about 50 yards from the crane. Appellant also had a five-gallon water bucket which was used to fill the radiator of the crane.

While the appellee was with Lyles at the barricade, appellee’s seventeen-year-old son, Herbert Rogers, and Robert Akin drove up in a Ford car. Appellee got in the car with them and drove down to the mixing plant. At about 7:30 or 8:00 appellee took his lantern and went to the crane, and a quantity of gasoline was either spilled or poured on him, and was ignited, and appellee was severely burned. He was carried to the doctor’s office and then taken to the hospital at Beebe, where he remained until December 24, 1930.

It is appellee’s contention that a can partly filled with gasoline was negligently left at the crane, and that this fell on him, pouring gasoline over him, which was ignited by the lantern that he was carrying.

It is the contention of the appellant that appellee got burned while getting gasoline out of the tank under the crane, for the purpose of supplying his son’s car; that the employee, who it is alleged put the gasoline on the crane, was not engaged in labor on October 23 for the appellant, and that the witness who moved the gasoline can was not at the time working for the appellant, and that appellant was guilty of no negligence in connection with the accident and injury,'and is not liable to the appellee.

There was a verdict and judgment for the appellee, and the case is here on appeal.

Appellant’s first contention is that there is no substantial evidence to show that appellee’s injuries were caused by any negligence on the part of the appellant.

. W. H. Rogers, who is not a relative of the appellee, testified that he lived at Jacksonville, and worked for the Altman-Rodgers Company in October, 1930, and was working for appellant on the 23d -day of October, 1930, the day appellee was injured; that he was batching up the material, and that between five and six o’clock that evening he went to get his raincoat, which was lying on the crane; that there was a 10-gallon can sitting on the crane about half full of gasoline. He had to pick up the can and move it over to get his raincoat. It was a 10-gallon can, and open at that time; the sides of the. can were straight. This witness then, on cross-examination, described the openings in the crane, the situation and the place where the gasoline can was sitting, and he was cross-examined at length about the bucket or can that was on the crane, and whether the one exhibited was the same or a different one.

E. L. Walker, one of the appellants, testified • that he was working for appellant company at the time of the injury; that appellant company owned a filling station near the cranes, and that he attended to the filling station; was their gasoline man, and that it was his duty to furnish gas and oil for all the trucks and machines, and to check up when they needed it; that he usually filled the tank about 5:30, or around quitting time; that he was at the Altman-Rodgers place on the afternoon of October 23; that the mixer did not run that day, but that he was there and filled up the tank and filled up some trucks; that on the evening of October 23 he filled the gasoline tank on the crane; that he carried the gasoline from the filling station to the crane in a 10-gallon can. About the time he got through filling the tank, he had some left; the can was about half full; that it was his custom to carry any gasoline that he had left in the can to the filling station, but on that day he left the can sitting on the crane, where Rogers said he moved it to get his raincoat; that about the time he got through filling the tank some one called him, and he stepped off and carelessly forgot the gasoline can; that he did not intend leaving it there; that was the same evening that appellee got burned.

W. H. Rogers also testified that after the appellee was injured he became nightwatchman on November 6 after the accident; that in February he moved into the office and found some time.sheets under Stallcup’s desk rolled up in a bundle; he had heard the talk that Walker was not working on October 23, and that he and Pitts Morris, who was there with him, got to talking about it and looked at these time sheets, and saw that Walker had four hours on October 23d.

It appears therefore that there was substantial evidence to submit to the jury the question as to whether Walker, at the time he left the gasoline, was in the employ of the company in the performance of his duties. It is true that this evidence was contradicted by appellant’s witnesses, who testified that Walker was not working that day. Wherever the evidence is in conflict, it is the province of the jury to determine the weight of the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses, and this question was submitted to the jury under proper instructions.

This court does not pass on either the credibility of the witnesses or the weight to be given to their testimony. If there is substantial evidence to support the verdict of the jury, this court cannot set aside the verdiet, although it might appear that it was against the preponderance of the evidence.

Appellant contends that appellee got burned while getting gasoline out of the gasoline tank underneath- appellant’s crane for the purpose of supplying the Ford car in which his son, Herbert, had driven up from Beebe. There is no evidence to support this theory. In fact, the evidence introduced by appellant contradicted this theory.

The evidence of young Rogers and Akin was introduced by appellant, and their evidence contradicts this idea, and also contradicts the idea that some one else was stealing gasoline, and, when appellee went to the crane, gasoline was thrown on him. Both these witnesses testify that there was nobody present at the crane, and Alexander testified that he was where he could see the crane and saw no one about the crane. It is contended, however, that there were persons there, because witnesses testify as to statements made by appellee immediately after the accident.

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Bluebook (online)
48 S.W.2d 239, 185 Ark. 561, 1932 Ark. LEXIS 145, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/altman-rodgers-co-v-rogers-ark-1932.