Furlow v. United Oil Mills

149 S.W. 69, 104 Ark. 489, 1912 Ark. LEXIS 275
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJuly 1, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 149 S.W. 69 (Furlow v. United Oil Mills) 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
Furlow v. United Oil Mills, 149 S.W. 69, 104 Ark. 489, 1912 Ark. LEXIS 275 (Ark. 1912).

Opinion

Frauenthal, J.

This is an action instituted by the administrator of George Furlow to recover damages for the pain and suffering he endured resulting from an injury which he sustained while in the defendant’s service. The defendant is a domestic corporation, owning and operating an oil mill at Ashdown, and Furlow was employed by it in the capacity of oiler of the machinery at this mill. While in the discharge of his duties, his left forearm was caught and crushed in some cogs, and from the injury thus received he died about six days later. In the defendant’s mill there were two sets of line shafts, which met at right angles, and were secured to a frame about eight or ten feet above the floor. At the junction of these line shafts there were two sets of cogs, forming what is called a “right-angle drive,” or miter gearing. On the line shafts there were several oil boxes or vats which required to be oiled. About twenty-six inches distant from the cogs there was what is called a “condenser,” which is a box with a flat top, about eighteen inches below the level of one of these line shafts. Between the line shaft and the condenser, and about three feet below it, was a plank about one foot wide, running parallel with the line shaft. The plank was nearest the line shaft, and at one end the cogs reached somewhat over its edge. The testimony on the part of the defendant tended to prove that these boxes or vats on the line shafts were oiled by the employee while standing upon the condenser, and that the plank had been placed and was only for the purpose of standing thereon while cleaning and repairing the machinery when the mill was not running. The testimony on the part of the plaintiff tended, however, to prove that other employees engaged in oiling this machinery stood on the plank while performing this duty, and that Furlow received his injury while standing on this plank and oiling the gearing at these cogs. It is claimed by counsel for plaintiff that the plank was so narrow that it caused one to press against the cogs, which were left unguarded and uncovered, on account of which Furlow’s arm was caught and crushed by the cogs.

The injury occurred on February 2, 1911, about noon, and Furlow would have been twenty-one years old the following November. He had been in the defendant’s employment at this mill for about four seasons, in various capacities which brought him in proximity with this machinery, and he had worked as oiler for 143 j/á days or nights just prior to the injury. He was of the average intelligence of a young man of his age, and' the testimony on the part of the defendant tended to prove that he had good ability and had acquired considerable experience in the work in which he was engaged. The testimony of the defendant’s night and day superintendents also showed that they had, at che time he entered this employment, properly instructed and warned Furlow relative to his duties and the dangers connected therewith; and this testimony is uncontradicted.

There was also testimony tending to prove that the cogs were installed and operated in the manner usually employed by ordinarily prudent and careful oil mill men engaged in like business.

The deceased had worked the night of January 31, and until the morning of Feburary 1. He again went to work at noon on Feburary 1, and worked until noon of Feburary 2, when the injury occurred. ° There is a conflict in the testimony as to whether the deceased went to work on February 1 at the request of defendant’s superintendent or upon his own motion and over the superintendent’s protest. The superintendent testified that Furlow requested that he might work during that half-day, because the mill would shut down during the following night, and he desired to earn all that he could; that he objected to his working through the day, but that Furlow insisted on doing so. On the part of the plaintiff, however, the testimony tended to show that the superintendent requested Furlow to work during this half-day because the day oiler was at that time sick.

The trial resulted in a verdict for the defendant. The plaintiff seeks by this appeal a reversal of the judgment upon the ground that the court erred in refusing to admit certain testimony offered by him, and its rulings upon instructions given and refused.

Upon the trial of the case, both the night and day superintendents of the company testified on their direct examination that they had properly instructed and warned Furlow of his duties and the dangers connected therewith. Upon the cross examination of these witnesses, counsel for plaintiff asked them whether they had instructed and warned other employees of the defendant doing like duties and who had not reached their majority. Subsequently, the plaintiff introduced several minors, who were in defendant’s employ doing like duties, and by them offered to prove that neither of these superintendents had instructed or warned them. The court refused to admit this offered testimony. In this ruling we think the court committed no error. The two superintendents had not on their direct examination testified relative to warning or instructing any employee other than Furlow. It was a matter wholly immaterial to the issues involved in this case whether the superintendents had or had not given instructions and warnings to other employees. Such testimony was not connected with the issues involved in this case, and related to matters wholly collateral to those issues. The general rule, well established and repeatedly approved by this court, is that when a witness is cross examined on a matter collateral to the issues in the case, his answer can not be subsequently contradicted by the party putting the question, nor can the witness be impeached by showing the falsity of his answer made on cross examination relative to collateral matters. The witness can only be impeached by evidence that his general reputation for truth or morality renders him unworthy of belief, or that he has made statements different from his testimony given in chief in the case, or relative to some matter which is not collateral to the issues involved therein. Peters v. State, 146 S. W. 491; Jones v. Malvern Lumber Co., 58 Ark. 129; Hot Springs Ry. Co. v. Bodeman, 76 Ark. 302; Abbott v. Herron, 90 Ark. 206.

The court gave a very lengthy charge to the jury, in which are- numerous separate instructions relative to the various issues involved in the case. Some of these instructions are repeated, and while this repetition might seemingly lay undue stress upon the matters therein embraced, and for that reason was bad practice and improper, yet in this case we can not say that prejudice has resulted sufficient to call for a reversal on that ground.

In its instructions relative to the acts of negligence charged against the defendant, the court confined the consideration of the jury to the following assignments of negligence: (1) As to whether or not the defendant failed to exercise ordinary care to furnish deceased with a reasonably safe place in which to work; and (2) as to whether or not it had failed to properly instruct and warn him. It is urged that the court erred in refusing to instruct the jury relative to the other acts of negligence attributed to the defendant.

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Bluebook (online)
149 S.W. 69, 104 Ark. 489, 1912 Ark. LEXIS 275, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/furlow-v-united-oil-mills-ark-1912.