Gallowshaw v. the Lonsdale Company

55 A. 932, 25 R.I. 383, 1903 R.I. LEXIS 86

• Court: Supreme Court of Rhode Island
• Decided: July 25, 1903
• Status: Published

Opinions

Per Curiam.

(1) Gen. Laws cap. 251, § 11, provides that the Appellate Division, after considering a petition for new trial, may direct entry of judgment and make such further orders in the cause as to law and justice shall appertain.

(2) The court did not hold that a compliance with the law in regard to elevators was “sufficient in itself to compel a jury to find that the defendant used due care,” but it held that the compliance with the statute, which furnished a warning, being shown, with no evidence of other fault by the defendant, there was no negligence on its part.

The statutes of 1901-1902 referred to in the motion for re-argument were passed after the accident, and cannot be considered.

Gen. Laws cap. 108, § 15, has no application, as the elevator-well was inaccessible from without when the elevator was moving. The death .of the boy was hot caused by falling into the elevator-well, but by the pushing of the trap-door which guarded it.

Hugh J. Carroll, for plaintiff. Miller & Carroll, for defendant.

There is no question for a jury when fact's are not controverted, or it clearly appears what course a person of ordinary prudence would pursue, or where the standard of duty is fixed or the negligence is clearly defined and palpable. Elliott v. Newport, 18 R. I. 707.

Motion for re-argument denied.