Federal Compress & Warehouse Co. v. Harmon

118 S.W.2d 239, 196 Ark. 417, 1938 Ark. LEXIS 197
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 13, 1938
Docket4-5114
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 118 S.W.2d 239 (Federal Compress & Warehouse Co. v. Harmon) 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
Federal Compress & Warehouse Co. v. Harmon, 118 S.W.2d 239, 196 Ark. 417, 1938 Ark. LEXIS 197 (Ark. 1938).

Opinion

Humphreys, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment in the sum of $1,500 rendered on a verdict against appellant in favor of appellee in the circuit court of Pulaski county for personal injuries appellee suffered while he was employed as a reefer about a cotton bale press at Ashdown, Arkansas, in October, 1936, through appellant’s negligence in permitting hooks to accumulate on the tramway or passageway from the dinky press to the large press so that one or more hooks became entangled in the bagging of a bale of cotton on its way from the dinky press to the large press, which caught in the cuff of appellee’s pants while engaged in his duties, and unbalanced him to such an extent that his hand was caught in the bale of cotton and injured.

Appellant’s only contention for a reversal of the judgment is that according to the undisputed evidence the presence of the hooks and the likelihood of them becoming entangled in the bagging of the bale of cotton on its way from the dinky press to the large press was known to appellee before the accident occurred, and that the danger was fully appreciated by him and, therefore, the risk was assumed.

One of the defenses interposed by appellant was appellee’s assumption of the risk incident to his employment.

Appellant argues and contends that viewed in the light of appellee’s own testimony appellee assumed the risk of the employment as a matter of law, and that the trial court erred in not instructing a verdict for it. In view of this contention, the testimony of appellee in its entirety relative to his 'employment, the conditions existing in and about bis working place and the manner in which he received his injury is set out herein, and is as follows: “Q. How old were you in October of 1936? A. Thirty-nine. Q. When were you 39. A. 18th of October. Q. You are the plaintiff- in this case are you? A. Yes, sir. Q. How long have you lived in Ashdown? A. I have lived in Ashdown since I was eight years old, thirty-one years. Q. Now, where were you working when you were injured? A. At the Federal Compress Company, Ashdown, Arkansas. Q. Had you worked there before that time, Clyde? A. Yes, sir. Q. What kind of work were you.doing when you were injured?' A. I was reefing bands that is shoving them through. Q. At the big press? A. I was. Q. You don’t work there all the year do you? A. No, sir, just during the cotton season. . . . Q. Now then what time of day was it that you got hurt down there, Clyde? A. It was 10:30. Q. What month was it in? A. October. Q. What day? A. The 23rd seems to me. Q. What year? A. 1936. Q. Now, tell the jury just what the condition was there at the press at the time you gut yourself hurt, what had happened just before you got hurt and tell them how you got hurt there. A. Well, before I got hurt we have orders from the superintendent to hold the cotton up erect. Q. Where? A. In the press. Q. In the big press ? A. Yes, sir. Q. For what purpose does it have to be held erect? A. When it starts the bale up if the sides begin to bulge it makes a great big bale. Q. You don’t want that kind of bale? A. We have orders not to put out any of that kind that throws us to have to straighten it up and kick it with our knee, hands or feet any way to get it up we use our feet because some times your hand catches in the bale or your sleeve on some metal. At the time I got hurt we had one that started it it seemed to bulge. Q. Where? A. Onto my side just at one end. Q. What did you do ? A. I taken the bar up over me where we hold to balance ourselves to keep from falling and kick onto it and as the pressure started on it seemed to bulge and I kicked it and tried to release my foot and the hook caught in my trouser and the press was going np in motion then. Q. What effect did that have when the hook caught your trousers? A. It was going up and that carried my foot this way into the bale and got me overbalanced and I was holding both hands and kicking after it carried my foot up I tried to pull back and that th rowed me to miss catching my hand right about twelve inches from the top of the bale my hand being that was caused by thumb not to go any further there was no injury on this thumb that throwed me to injure my hand. Q. All the four fingers except the thumb ? A. Yes ph\ Q. All the four fingers caught in the bale? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did the press continue to go on up? A. Yes, sir. My thumb wás in this shape. It was only about a, three hundred pound bale and my thumb being this way just like a fender it didn’t get into the bale. Q. Did that bale, when brought to the big press, have any metal hooks on it? A. Yes. ’ Q. How many, four? A. Yes, sir, four. Q. Did you remove the one on your side? A.. Yes, sir, they were all out. Q. Were you working pretty fast there? A. Yes, sir. Q. Did you know it had a hook in the bagging that caught your trouser leg? A. No, sir. Q. Where was that hook? A. It was underneath the bagging. The bagging sometimes sweep the floor and the trucker passed over it sweeps it up and it was pushed under there, it looked to me like there were three or four there. Q. That hook caught in your trouser leg, the hook underneath the bagging and pulled your knee into the bale and in trying to extricate your knee you got your hand caught in the bale ? A. Yes, sir. Q. Now, Clyde, what was the next thing that was done after you got your hand caught in there, did you give an outcry? A. Yes, sir, I was hollering. Q. What did they do then with the steam pressure on the big' press? A. He released it. Q. And what condition was your hand in then? A. This hand was just flat. They told me to go put some coal oil on it and I told Ihem I couldn’t put coal oil on it because the bones were out, Q. Did your hand bleed there at the compress? A. Yes, sir. Q. What about the bones? A. This here one here was out this way they asked me if it was out and I told them I couldn’t tell I couldn’t move it. . . . Q. Now how many of you were there working at the big press when you got hurt? A. Eight. Q. Three of you on either side and a sewer on each end? A. Around the press, yes, sir. Q. Any white men working at the big press? A. No, sir, there wasn’t any white men. Q. Of course you had — Tell the jury from whom you received instruction to kick the bale as you did when you got injured? A. We received instructions to kick the bale of cotton to make it press out a perfect bale by the superintendent. Q. Mr. Choate, here? A. Yes, sir. Q. What was the condition of the big press at the time you got hurt that day? A. The condition of the big press, we were instructed not to lean over under it or anything because there was only one bolt at the end holding this top. A. The other end was not fastened? A. It would 'move backwards and forth whenever the bale got up to it it would drop. Q. What effect did that have on compressing of the bale as to bulging or rolling in the press? - A, Well, it would cause some bales to come over farther and it Avould not come up as far by this bottom being bursted it would come out two inches that throwed it out of balance like catching over here and it would give it more pressure on this side. Q. Had there been anything said about fixing that before you got hurt? A.' Yes, sir. Q. What had been said about it? A. He said they — Q. Who is he? A. Mr. Choate, the superintendent, he said he was going to have that fixed just the week before this happened and one of the head sewers on the south end, Alfonso, had suggested the part up over head. Avas broke, I don’t know the name of it, however, Avhen the press was moving it looked like it would break and fall and he jumped and run out. Q. Was there a mechanic there to fix it? A. No, sir. Q. Was ho waiting for one to come and fix it? A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
118 S.W.2d 239, 196 Ark. 417, 1938 Ark. LEXIS 197, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-compress-warehouse-co-v-harmon-ark-1938.