Beaumont Iron Works v. Duron

297 S.W. 1075, 1927 Tex. App. LEXIS 695
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 22, 1927
DocketNo. 1437.
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 297 S.W. 1075 (Beaumont Iron Works v. Duron) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beaumont Iron Works v. Duron, 297 S.W. 1075, 1927 Tex. App. LEXIS 695 (Tex. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

HIGHTOWER, C. J.

This suit was filed by Marie Berea, for herself and as mother and next friend of her minor son Robert Du-ron, against appellant, Beaumont Iron Works, for the recovery of damages because ’ of personal injuries sustained by Robert Du-ron, the minor, which, it was alleged, were caused by negligence on the part of appellant. The accident occurred on November 17, 1923, in the city of Beaumont, on the private premises of appellant, Beaumont Iron Works, a corporation, which was at that time engaged on a large scale in the manufacture and sale of iron and iron machinery and articles of many kinds. Upon its premises where the injury occurred, appellant, in connection with its iron factory, necessarily used and operated what is called in this record, a large hoisting derrick made of steel. This derrick is . described in the pleadings and the evidence as an A-frame derrick. The witnesses say that this derrick is shaped like the letter “A” leaning over. The derrick extends high into the air, and the legs of the derrick at the bottom are securely fastened into a. concrete platform. In connection with this derrick, operating machinery, such as a large boom, -which the evidence shows is between 45 and 50 feet in length, and drums and cylinders and steel cables and cog wheels, a ratchet wheel, and other appliances, are used. The evidence shows without dispute that this hoisting derrick and the operating machinery used in connection therewith was used by appellant in its business for handling ponderous and heavy articles in loading them and unloading them on railroad cars placed upon side tracks at the premises of appellant for that purpose. This derrick with its machinery is capable of handling iron articles and machinery in general of more than 10 tons in weight. The large boom that we have mentioned itself weighs several tons. This boom is so adjusted on the derrick that it can swing around from place to place. It is larger in the middle! than it is at either end; in other words, the boom tapers from the' middle towards each end. This boom is handled by the cables and drums, and at the end of the boom that swings around for the purpose of loading or unloading heavy or ponderous articles is a large grab hook fastened to the boom by the cable, and this hook, itself, as the evidence shows, weighs in excess of 500 pounds. The steel boom is not made of solid steel, but of bars of steel, and resembles lattice work. Some portions of the machinery used in connection with this hoisting derrick are made stationary upon a platform or table about 3 feet above the ground. Appellant’s premises, where this hoisting derrick and machinery are located, is in the manufacturing district or center of the city of Beaumont, and, in addition to appellant’s iron manufacturing concern, there are such concerns as railroad shops, railroad switches, sawmills, spurs, box factories, and other wood-manufacturing concerns, lumber yards, and rieemills.

*1076 The evidence does not show with definiteness how long this hoisting derrick and machinery used in connection with it had been used and operated by appellant prior to the time of Robert Duron’s injury, but the reasonable inference from the evidence in the record is that it had been in necessary use and operation by appellant in the prosecution of its business for several years prior to that time. ' The evidence shows that at the time of Robert Duron’s injury there were several railroad spurs or side tracks in close .proximity to this hoisting derrick, and one of these tracks was within approximately 20 feet of this derrick. It was alleged in the plaintiffs’ petition, and the proof sustains the allegation, that at the time of Robert-Huron’s injury, and for a long time prior thereto, many people in that vicinity used these railroad spurs and side tracks, and especially the railroad track nearest the derrick, as a footpath in traveling in that vicinity, and this was without protest, so far as the evidence shows, from the railroad companies or appellant.

On the morning that Robert Duron was injured, he and his brother, Mike, were sent by their mother from their home to what is called the Beaumont Box Factory to get wood, and in going to the box factory they traveled along the railroad track, which was about 20 feet from this hoisting derrick. They went to the box factory, but failed to get wood on that occasion, and as they came along back stopped, when they were opposite this hoisting derrick, and left the railroad track, stepped on to a platform extending from the derrick to within about 7 feet .of the track, and went on out to the derrick. Shortly after reaching the derrick Mike Du-ron, the younger brother, went around on the opposite side of the derrick from where his brother, Robert, was standing, to look at the derrick and machinery, and as he started back on the side of the derrick where Robert was. he slipped and came very nearly falling into a mud puddle and grabbed hold of an iron bar about 2 or 2% feet in length that was placed under some part of the machinery in this hoisting derrick, and throwing his weight against the bar an attachment or appliance called a pawl that belonged'in what is termed in the machinery a rachet.wheel was displaced or pried out by the iron bar, and thereby the machinery used in connection with the derrick was rapidly and suddenly placed in motion, and the large steel boom that we have mentioned, which at that time was hoisted and in an almost perpendicular position, was caused to fall, making a loud noise, and Robert Duron, who was standing some 3 or 4 feet from the machinery, became frightened, so the evidence tends to show, and in some* way got his left hand in the cog wheels of the machinery, and all the fingers, with the exception of the thumb, were mashed off.

At the time of his injury Robert Duron, as best we can ascertain from the evidence in this record, was between 13 and 14 years of age, and his brother, Mike, was between 10 and 11 years of age. Their right of recovery in this suit for the injuries to Robert Duron is predicated and claimed upon the doctrine of attractive nuisances. The plaintiffs’ petition in this case is very lengthy and carefully drawn so as to bring the case, as made by the petition, within the doctrine of attractive nuisances, or, as the legal fraternity frequently call it, the doctrine of the “turntable” cases. It was alleged, in substance, that the hoisting derrick and the operating machinery used in connection with it, as we have briefly described it above, was unusually and irresistibly attractive to children of tender years and of immature judgment and discretion, and that this fact was well known to appellant, or by the exercise of proper care on its part would have been known and appreciated by appellant, and that on the occasion in question, because of the irresistible attractiveness of this derrick and operating machinery and the childish curiosity and impulse on the part of these boys, they went to this derrick and machinery to inspect it and play around it, and that tjiey were of such tender years and so wanting in discretion and judgment that they did- not appreciate and realize the danger that they would be in in being around this derrick and machinery.

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Related

Duron v. Beaumont Iron Works
9 S.W.2d 1104 (Texas Commission of Appeals, 1928)

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Bluebook (online)
297 S.W. 1075, 1927 Tex. App. LEXIS 695, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beaumont-iron-works-v-duron-texapp-1927.