Great Western Land Co. v. Barker

262 S.W. 650, 164 Ark. 587, 1924 Ark. LEXIS 429
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJune 9, 1924
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 262 S.W. 650 (Great Western Land Co. v. Barker) 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
Great Western Land Co. v. Barker, 262 S.W. 650, 164 Ark. 587, 1924 Ark. LEXIS 429 (Ark. 1924).

Opinion

Wood, J.

This action was instituted by the appellee against the appellant, a Missouri corporation, doing business in Arkansas, to recover damages for personal injuries. The appellee alleged that he was in the employ of the appellant, engaged in' piling and hauling stumps, loading and unloading same on and off ground-sleds; that, because of the negligence and failure of appellant to supply necessary help and loading and unloading f aeil-. ities, appellee was injured; that the employees, engaged with the appellee in loading and unloading the stumps, permitted a stump to slip and break the hold of the appellee, and, by so doing, broke him down in the back, ■causing him severe injury, suffering, and medical bill, 'to his damage, as he alleged, in the sum of $2,900, for which he prayed judgment. The appellant, in its answer, denied the allegations of the complaint, and set up that any injury received by the appellee was the result of a risk which lie assumed when he entered appellant’s employ.

The testimony of the appellee was to the effect that he was in the employ of the appellant in May, 1921. He and his fellow-servants were hauling stumps on a ground-slide, piling them in heaps to be burned. They had a pile of stumps three feet high, .and got a stump to the pile, and started to put it on top of same. The appellee was at the back end of the stump. Two more fellow-servants were on each side of it. They got the stump partly up, and appellee’s fellow-servants turned loose to get a new hold, and, in doing so, let the weight of the stump fall back on the appellee, which injured him in his back and left hip. He testified, over the objection of the .appellant, that the injury had affected his digestion and water passage. The appellee described his injuries in. detail to the jury. He testified that he had received a slight injury before the one complained of in the small of the back, and did not present any claim for the same. He went back to work for the appellant as soon as he was well, and the company paid him for one-half of the time he had lost.

Physicians, who qualified as experts, testified on behalf of the appellee as to the nature of his injuries, and their testimony tended to show that he was injured as alleged in the complaint. One of them, Dr. F. E. Jones, testified that he saw the appellee in June or July of 1921, in connection with Dr. Joyner, and also had examined him a few days ago, at appellee’s request. He described the injuries to appellee, but it is unnecessary to set forth his testimony as to the nature of these injuries. Over the objection of the appellant, he was permitted to testify, after describing the nature of appellee’s injuries, that a normal man could not feign the condition testified to by the appellee. He could not become pale, sick at the stomach, and perspiration break out on him, without an injury.

A witness for the appellant testified that lie was working with the appellee at the time of -the alleged injury; that there was nothing extraordinary in the lift of the stump at that time; that they did not let go the stump at the time the appellee was injured. They each had hold of a part of the stump — had it about half-way up on the pile, when appellee said he was hurt, and let loose. After appellee let loose, the two fellow-servants of the -appellee, who were assisting him, put the stump on the pile.

Physicians, who qualified as experts, testified on behalf of the appellant. One of them, Dr. Scott Cook, stated that he treated the appellee for the injury about May, 1921. He found a strain on the left hip — some soreness and tenderness. He did not find anything out of the way, aside from the history and symptoms of the case given him by the patient; Witness had an understanding with the appellant that he would look after minor injuries to its employees. Witness could not find out what the trouble was with the appellee, and thought it was a case of malingering, and asked one of appellant’s men to send the appellee to some one else, because be thought the appellee was exaggerating his symptoms and wanted to see if the other physician was of the same opinion. When he sent the appellee away, he probably told him he was going to send him somewhere else for an examination. Witness thought appellee was hurt to a certain extent.

Dr. Rowe testified, for the appellant, that he examined the appellee in June or July of 1921 after his alleged injury. Appellee was complaining of his back. Witness came to the conclusion that appellee was malingering.

After appellee had closed his testimony and the appellant had introduced its testimony, the court permitted the appellee to testify that Drs. Rowe and Cook told him what was the matter with him. The appellant objected to this testimony, on the ground that it was not rebuttal. The court overruled the objection, and the appellee testified that Dr. Oook said that witness had a sprain or strain in the back, and that it would be some time before witness could do manual work. He told witness that he was going to send him to the hospital for treatment; that they could take better care of him, there. The appellant moved -to strike out all of this testimony, and the court overruled its motion, to which appellant duly excepted.

The court submitted the issues of negligence and assumed risk to the jury, in instructions to which appellant duly objected and excepted. The court told the jury, in effect, that, if the appellee was injured through the negligence and carelessness of the fellow-servants of the appellee, as alleged in his complaint, they should return a verdict in his favor, but, on the other hand, if the injury was not caused as alleged, or if the jury should find that the injury was one of the ordinary hazards of the work that appellee was engaged in, they should return a verdict in favor of the appellant; that the appellee assumed all ordinary dangers and hazards pertaining to such work, and, if they found that the injuries were sustained by the appellee in the performance of his work, and were a risk incident thereto, a risk known or patent as pertaining to the work itself, then the appellee could not recover. The court also told the jury that the effect of our statute is to make the negligent act of a fellow-servant or employee of the master the' act of the master or corporation itself. The appellant objected to the rulr ings of the court in giving the above instructions, and also presented prayers for instructions, including, among others, one for an instructed verdict, which, the court refused, to which ruling the appellant duly excepted. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the appellee in the sum of $1,500. Judgment was rendered in favor of the appellee in that sum, from which is this appeal. •

The appellant contends that the undisputed evidence shows that the appellee assumed the risk, and that the court erred in not so instructing the jury as a matter of law, and in not giving the appellant’s prayer for a peremptory verdict in its favor. We cannot concur in that view of the -testimony. To sustain its contention, appellant -cites Chicago, Rock Island & Pac. Ry. Co. v. Grubbs, 97 Ark. 486. In that case twio cars of creosoted cross-ties had been placed upon the sidetrack of the railroad company at the town of Lonoke. The ties were loaded on flat-cars, and had become disarranged while being transported. Grubbs was a member of the section crew whose duty it was, under the direction of the foreman, to straighten out the ties upon the cars. The foreman directed men to go upon the ties to straighten them out.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
262 S.W. 650, 164 Ark. 587, 1924 Ark. LEXIS 429, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/great-western-land-co-v-barker-ark-1924.