Dunn v. John L. Roper Lumber Co.

172 N.C. 129
CourtSupreme Court of North Carolina
DecidedOctober 4, 1916
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 172 N.C. 129 (Dunn v. John L. Roper Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dunn v. John L. Roper Lumber Co., 172 N.C. 129 (N.C. 1916).

Opinion

Walker, J.,

after stating the case: There are many exceptions in this record, but a careful analysis of them will disclose that they may be greatly reduced in number by classification, and that, at last, there are only a few when we confine ourselves to those which go to the real merits of the case.

The two principal assignments of error are that the court in its charge permitted the jury to consider the doctrine, res ipsa loquitur, as applicable to the facts, and that defendant’s motion for a nonsuit and its prayer for a peremptory instruction that in any view of the evidence, if believed by the jury, the issue as to negligence should be answered in the negative, were refused.

We are of the opinion there was evidence in this case which warranted the charge of the court to which exception was taken below. Where the plaintiff shows damage proximately resulting from the de[134]*134fendant’s act, which act, with the exercise of due care, does not ordinarily produce damage, he makes out a prima facie ease of negligence, which requires the defendant to go forward with his proof or take the chance of an adverse verdict, or, as otherwise stated: “The accident, the injury, and the circumstances under which they occurred are in some ca&es sufficient to raise a presumption of negligence, and thus cast upon the defendant the burden of establishing his freedom from fault. Proof of an injury, occurring as the proximate result of an act of the defendant which would not usually, if done with due care, have injured any one, is enough to make out a presumption of negligence. When a thing which causes injury is shown to be under the management of the defendant, and the accident is such as in the ordinary course of things does not happen if those who have the management use proper care, it affords reasonable evidence, in the absence of explanation by the defendant, that the accident arose from a want of care.” Ellis v. R. R., 24 N. C., 138; 1 Shearman and Redf. on Negligence (16 Ed. by Street), sec. 59; Aycock v. R. R., 89 N. C., 321; Lawton v. Giles, 90 N. C., 374; Haynes v. Gas Co., 114 N. C., 207.

These general definitions were approved and the subject fully discussed in the recent case of Ridge v. R. R., 167 N. C., 510.

The statement of the doctrine which has usually been accepted by the courts was that reported in Scott v. London Docks Co., 3 Hurlst. and C., 596.

The maxim, res ipsa loquitur, does not dispense with proof, but permits the jury to draw a reasonable inference from circumstances which, prima facie and in the ordinary course of things, are generally indicative of negligence. It applies here because there is proof that the plaintiff did not move the lever which controlled the hammer-dog, and did not move the hammer-dog itself. The first and only thing he did was the effort he made to stop the falling hammer-dog, which, in some way, had escaped from its proper place, where it was held in position, and intended to be so held, by its own weight. The eccentric action of this implement might well be inferred to have been caused by some defect in the machine itself, of which it was an important part. There is also evidence that what is called the “nigger” could have jostled the hammer-dog out of place, “though, when it is at rest and out of use at the other end of the circle, it would take a considerable jar to do so.” The witness Barrett, who gave this testimony, also stated that the saw was oscillating, and that this does not occur if it is in good order and properly placed and adjusted.

So we have a case not, in principle, unlike Ross v. Cotton Mill, 140 N. C., 115, and Morrisett v. Cotton Mills, 151 N. C., 31, where a machine was suddenly and unexpectedly set in motion and the doctrine we are discussing was applied, the Court holding that evidence, which was not [135]*135more convincing than that we have in this record, was sufficient to raise a prima facie case of negligence under the maxim.

The more recent case of Deaton v. Lumber Co., 165 N. C., 560, seems to be directly applicable to the facts of this case. It appeared there that the plaintiff, who was in the employ of the defendant, was engaged in operating a .sawing machine and “that a cut-off saw which had been placed in a hood or shield, and should have remained there, sprang forward out of the shield and injured him.” If the facts of the two cases are even casually compared, they will be found to bear the very closest resemblance to each other, if they are not substantially alike; and upon the facts in the cited case, the Court did not hesitate to apply the doctrine, res ipsa loquitur. Justice Brown thus states the Court’s opinion upon those facts: “We think that this version of the testimony would justify the jury in drawing the inference of negligence in the manner in which the saw had been placed in its bearings. The manner in which the saw unexpectedly sprang out of the shield and injured the plaintiff, in the way testified by him, is very conclusive evidence that there was something unusually wrong with it, and presents a case where the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur will carry the case to the jury. In this case the facts and circumstances attending the injury speak for themselves, and in the absence of explanation or disproof give rise to the inference of negligence. It is evident that the accident would not have occurred if the saw had not unexpectedly sprung out of its protecting shield. Why it did so is not very clear, but the circumstance calls upon the defendant for explanation.”

The court, in its charge, did not leave the jury to decide solely upon the naked doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, but required the jury, in addition, to find that “the fact and circumstance” of the hammer-dog falling upon the saw “came from a want of reasonable care and inspection on the part of defendant,” and that it was the proximate cause of the injury. This instruction necessitated a finding by the jury that defendant had -failed in its duty toward the plaintiff, whereby he had been injured as described by him, and was not a strict application of the rule that “the thing itself speaks.” The jury were further told that they could draw the inference of negligence, or not, after they had heard the defendant’s evidence, or, in other words, from the entire evidence.

This disposes of the exceptions numbered 11, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25.

The part of the charge to which exception 26 was taken was no more than a statement of plaintiff’s contention, except the latter part of it, which was favorable to defendant, as we have shown; and exceptions 27 and-28 were merely formal.

The questions as to plaintiff’s inexperience, and his ignorance as to the condition of the machine and the necessity to warn him of any [136]*136special danger in using it were all material for the consideration of the jury. It is the legal duty of the master to provide a reasonably safe place where the servant may work and reasonably safe tools and appliances with which to perform his work, and in order that the master may discharge this duty, he should make reasonable inspection of them from time to time, so that the place, the machinery, implements and appliances may be kept in proper condition — such an inspection as an ordinarily prudent man would make under the same circumstances, if the risk were wholly his own. Marks v. Cotton Mills, 135 N. C., 287; Parrott v. Wells,

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172 N.C. 129, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dunn-v-john-l-roper-lumber-co-nc-1916.