Bohn Manuf'g Co. v. Erickson

55 F. 943, 5 C.C.A. 341, 1893 U.S. App. LEXIS 2030
Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit·Decided May 1, 1893·No. No. 194·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinion

SANBORN, Circuit Judge,

(after stating the facts.) It is the general rule that a servant assumes the ordinary risks and dangers of the employment upon which he enters, so far as they aré known to him, and so far as they would have been known to one of his age, experience, and capacity by the use of ordinary care. He does not assume latent dangers known to the master that are actually unknown to him, and that one of his capacity and experience would not have known by the use of ordinary care. It is the duty of the master to notify the servant of such dangers. Obviously the line between dangers apparent and latent varies with the varying experience and capacity of the servants employed. Risks and dangers that are apparent to the man of long experience, and of a high order of intelligence, may be unknown to the inexperienced and ignorant; hence, if the youth, inexperience, and incapacity of a minor who is employed in a hazardous occupation are such that a master of ordinary intelligence and prudence would know that he is • not aware of or does not appreciate the ordinary risks of his employment, it is his duty to notify him of them, and instruct him how to avoid them. This notice and instruction should be graduated to the age, intelligence, and experience .of the servant. They should be such as a master of ordinary prudence and sagacity would give under like circumstances, for the purpose of enabling the minor not only to know the dangerous nature of his work, but also to understand and appreciate its risks and avoid its dangers. They should be governed, after all, more by the experience and capacity of the servant than by his age, because the intelligence and experience of men measure their knowledge and appreciation of the dangers about them far more accurately than their years. Pressed Brick Co. v. Reinneiger, (Ill. Sup.) 29 N. E. Rep. 1106, 1107; Dowling v. Allen, 74 Mo. 13, 16; Railway Co. v. Valirius, 56 Ind. 511, 518; Buckley v. Gutta Percha Co., (N. Y. App.) 21 N. E. Rep. 717; Railway Co. v. Frawley, (Ind. Sup.) 9 N. E. Rep. 595, 598.

On the other hand, no duty rests upon the master to notify, the minor of the ordinary dangers of his occupation that are so open and apparent that one of his age, experience, and capacity would, under like circumstances, by the exercise of ordinary care, know and appreciate them. No duty rests upon him to notify the minor of the ordinary dangers of his employment that the latter actually knows and appreciates. As to these dangers and risks that he actually knows and appreciates, and as to those that are so apparent and open that one of his age, experience, and capacity would, in the exercise of ordinary care, know and appreciate them, the minor is governed by the same rules as the adult. He assumes these risks by entering upon or continuing in the employment, and no negligence can be charged to the master, and no liability can be fastened upon him, because he fails to give futile notices and warnings of these dangers, which the minor knows and appreciates, or ought to know and appreciate. Engine Works v. [947] Randall, 100 Ind. 293, 298, 300; Berger v. Railway Co., 39 Minn. 78, 38 N. W. Rep. 814; Sullivan v. Manufacturing Co., 113 Mass. 396; Fones v. Phillips, 39 Ark. 17, 38.

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Bohn Manuf'g Co. v. Erickson, 55 F. 943, 5 C.C.A. 341, 1893 U.S. App. LEXIS 2030 (8th Cir. 1893).

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