Fort Wayne Iron & Steel Co. v. Parsell

94 N.E. 770, 49 Ind. App. 565, 1911 Ind. App. LEXIS 234
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 5, 1911
DocketNo. 6,899
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 94 N.E. 770 (Fort Wayne Iron & Steel Co. v. Parsell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fort Wayne Iron & Steel Co. v. Parsell, 94 N.E. 770, 49 Ind. App. 565, 1911 Ind. App. LEXIS 234 (Ind. Ct. App. 1911).

Opinion

Felt, J.

Action by James R. Parsell against the Port Wayne Iron and Steel Company, for damages for personal injuries. There was a trial by jury on an amended complaint in four paragraphs, and a judgment for appellee in the sum of $2,600, from which this appeal is taken.

Errors relied on question the action of the court in overruling appellant’s motion to require appellee to make each paragraph of the amended complaint more specific, overruling the demurrer to each of said paragraphs, sustaining appellee’s demurrer to the third and fifth paragraphs of appellant’s answer, overruling appellant’s motion for judg[569]*569rnent on the answers to the interrogatories and for a new trial.

The amended first paragraph of complaint alleges, in substance, that defendant is a corporation engaged in the manufacture of iron and steel in Allen county, Indiana; that as a part of its plant it maintained a battery of three upright steam-boilers, each twenty-five feet high and six feet in diameter, and located in a line, 'about twenty-five feet apart; that these boilers had an outer and inner concentric shell, the inner one being about three feet in diameter in which water was placed for the generation of steam, and heated by means of hot air conducted from furnaces into the space between the inner and outer shells aforesaid; that at the bottom of each boiler there was a manhole, provided with a removable lid, through which the inner boiler could be entered from a pit underneath; that near the bottom of the boiler was a blow-out pipe, which communicated with the inner shell and extended outwardly, horizontally to near the outer edge of the pit, where it was bent down and into the earth at the bottom of the pit, and there connected with a horizontal pipe, which was buried in the earth and connected said boilers; that said underground pipe connected with another horizontal discharge pipe, which extended eastwardly beneath the surface, a distance of 100 feet; that near the angle of the blow-out pipe, where it turned down into the pit, there was a rotating valve about two and one-half feet long, operated by a wrench, which valve when closed prevented the discharge of the contents of the boiler through said pipe into said under-ground pipes, but when open afforded a passage for water amd steam from said boilers through said pipes into a ditch; that defendant was accustomed to clean out the boilers by opening the valve of the blow-out pipe of the boiler to be cleaned and by pressure of the escaping steam and hot water; that when this was done, if any other boiler was empty, and the valve to its [570]*570blow-out pipe 'open, the pressure of the steam in the boiler to be cleaned would force a part of the hot water and steam into said empty boiler, and make it unsafe and dangerous for a person to be therein; that on February 5, 1904, plaintiff was employed by defendant as a common laborer to perform such manual labor as he was ordered to do; that he was engaged in loading and unloading ears at appellant’s plant until March 18, 1904, when he was ordered by Harry Green, who was, or had acted long enough for defendant to know that he claimed to be, a master mechanic and assistant superintendent, then in the service of defendant, to leave his work of loading cars and go down into the pit of one of said boilers, then empty, and enter through the manhole and clean out the sediment and scales in said boiler; that said Green had employed plaintiff to labor in said plant, and during all the time of plaintiff’s employment by defendant had assumed, with defendant’s knowledge, the authority of then and there acting in the place of defendant to direct and require plaintiff to obey his orders, and defendant had paid him for his services so rendered; that plaintiff conformed to said orders and entered said boiler to perform such service; that plaintiff had no knowledge of the manner in which said boilers were connected by the pipes, and did not know that when the water and steam were forced out of one of the boilers by such pressure that they would be forced into an empty boiler whose valve was not closed, and that for his protection and safety it was necessary that the valve of the boiler in which he was working should be closed and kept closed while he was therein, nor did he know whether it was closed when he entered the boiler, but defendant and said Green well knew such precaution was necessary, yet they wholly failed to notify plaintiff of any peril that might overtake him while therein; that while plaintiff was in said boiler, in conformity to the order of Green and before he entered therein, it was the duty of said Green and of de[571]*571fendant to notify him of the danger that might arise by failure to close said valve thereof and keep it closed while he was in said boiler, but that defendant by its officers and employes, without said notice, ordered him into said boiler, and then proceeded in the manner aforesaid, to clean out one of the other boilers which contained steam and hot water, and the hot water and steam in .said boiler were expelled with such force that part thereof entered the boiler where plaintiff was working, and severely and dangerously scalded and burned his limbs and body, by reason of which he was wounded, became sick and sore, and suffered and still suffers great pain therefrom, and was wholly disabled and confined to his bed for more than three months after he was injured; that plaintiff received his injury through the carelessness and negligence of defendant in failing to inform him of the necessity to close and keep closed said valve, and that the hot water and steam from one boiler could and would be forced into an empty boiler when its valve was open, as it was its duty to do; that defendant failed either to close or to keep closed said valve while plaintiff was in said boiler; that plaintiff had never been employed in such service, and was wholly ignorant of the construction of said plant and of the connections of said boilers, and was unaware of the danger or hazard of entering and working in said boiler, and relied on appellant to warn him of any hidden dangers.

The second paragraph of amended complaint contains the same general averments as the fii’st, except the allegation that the construction of said boiler and pipes attached thereto was defective and unsafe in this: That the outer discharge pipe was too small to discharge the contents of the boiler so freely as to prevent a part from entering into the other empty boiler when the valves were not closed, and that each boiler should have had a separate discharge pipe without any connection with the pipes of the other boilers, thereby preventing any part from entering the other blow[572]

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Bluebook (online)
94 N.E. 770, 49 Ind. App. 565, 1911 Ind. App. LEXIS 234, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fort-wayne-iron-steel-co-v-parsell-indctapp-1911.