Hilgbrandt v. Oval Wood Dish Co.

146 N.W. 426, 180 Mich. 43
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 28, 1914
DocketDocket No. 34
StatusPublished

This text of 146 N.W. 426 (Hilgbrandt v. Oval Wood Dish Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hilgbrandt v. Oval Wood Dish Co., 146 N.W. 426, 180 Mich. 43 (Mich. 1914).

Opinion

McAlvay, C. J.

This suit was brought to recover damages for an injury plaintiff claimed to have been caused by the negligence of defendant, and a trial of the issue resulted in a verdict against defendant, upon Which a judgment was duly entered. The case is before this court for review, defendant and appellant [45]*45seeking a reversal on account of alleged errors committed upon the trial.

Defendant operated at Traverse City, Mich., a mill and factory in the production of wood dishes and other hard-wood products, principally from beech and maple sawlogs, which are brought to the factory on railroad cars and are delivered on a railroad siding which runs into defendant’s logyard. These cars are placed by defendant’s employees where required for sorting and unloading at the proper skidways; the cars being moved from place to place by a team kept for that purpose. The beech logs are placed upon the beech skid-way and the maple logs upon the maple skidway, more commonly called the iron skidway. These skidways are about two car lengths from each other. The logs put upon the iron skidway are rolled into a pond of warm water, called “the soup hole,” and from this place are taken up the slide into the factory for manufacture.

Plaintiff, at the time of his injury, was employed by defendant and was a member of the crew which had charge of unloading these cars and sorting these logs, moving the cars where desired, from place to place, for that purpose. The cars, after being unloaded, were moved some distance from the factory and left to be taken in charge by the railroad employees. All the movement of the cars after delivery by the railroad is done by a team of horses and one of this crew of men as a driver by hooking a chain to the car and pulling it along the track to the place where needed, the driver carrying a stick or block to drop in front of the wheels of the car to stop it as desired. This crew doing this work in the logyard usually numbered about six men.

The foreman of this crew, of which plaintiff was one, was Mr. Watson, who had worked for the defendant for some time and had a right to hire and dis[46]*46charge men, subject to the approval of the superintendent. This foreman scaled the logs, and the balance of the time worked with the crew, helping in different parts of the yard at whatever they were doing. The loaded cars were brought into defendant’s yard on a side track by the railroad company, usually once a day, and about 15 loaded cars at a time. It was the duty of this crew each day to unload these cars. When they were delivered the cars were loaded, and the logs secured on the cars with chains just as they had been loaded and chained in the woods. These were flat cars upon which the logs were loaded, having stakes along each side 16 or 18 inches high. The cars were long enough to receive two lengths of logs, which were rolled on, covering the entire car. Over these logs binder chains were placed, fastened on each side, and upon them as many other logs were rolled as would finish the load, which top logs held the chains and bound the load fast. When the cars were unloaded they were moved to the skidways as stated, according to convenience, as the loads happened to be made up. If beech logs were on top the car would be moved first to the beech rollway, and all such logs unloaded as could be handily taken off, and then the car would be moved and maple logs unloaded at the iron skid-way. In doing this unloading the logs were necessarily shifted around. When the top logs were unloaded the chains were untoggled to get at the bottom tier, which would be unloaded in such manner at such skidway as would be proper for that class of logs. As the cars were moved from place to place, after the binding chains had been unloosed, the remaining logs on a car would be rebound or not as in the judgment of those who were unloading seemed necessary. All of the members of this crew worked together, taking part in the different portions of the work necessary to be done to accomplish the unloading of these [47]*47cars, each day. Plaintiff had worked as a member of this crew at this work in the logyard for about a month or six weeks before his injury. He had never before driven the team in moving cars. On the day in question he had been told by the foreman to drive the team. In doing this work he carried in his hand a stick, or block, which he selected for that purpose, which he used to block the wheels of the car to stop it at the proper place, when notified by the other men. This continued during the day until some time in the afternoon, when, in moving a car, which had been partly unloaded, from one of the beech skidways to the iron skidway, standing with his back toward the car, not looking at it or the logs on it, he used his block to stop the car at the proper place, jarring two of the logs off the car, which struck plaintiff on his legs, throwing him down on his face upon the ground, and caused the injury for which he seeks to recover.

The sole negligence charged by plaintiff and relied upon in the declaration is that he was put at work by the foreman outside the scope of his employment, with the dangers incident to which he was unacquainted, and without notice or warning of such dangers. The dangers referred to are that the cars were moved from one skidway to another after the binding chains had been removed, and some logs unloaded without refastening such chains to prevent logs from rolling off from the cars, and by reason of which negligence he suffered his injuries.

Appellant, in presenting its reasons why the judgment against it should be reversed, has grouped the errors duly assigned and relied upon, among others, as follows: The danger was obvious, and plaintiff assumed the risk. The negligence, if any appears in the record, was the negligence of fellow-servants. As has been said in the statement of facts, and as appears from the testimony of plaintiff, he was a member of [48]*48this crew of men which unloaded the cars and decked the logs in defendant’s yard for about a month before this accident. The skidways were alongside of the car track, and men on the cars rolled the logs off onto the skidways, where plaintiff and others decked them up (which means arranged them in tiers on the skid-ways). During all this time plaintiff, as one of this crew, assisted in and saw how the work was done. From his testimony he was not engaged in rolling logs from the cars, but in handling them on the skidways after they left the cars; for all the time he was engaged in such work he was situated where he could observe and know how the crew handled the logs in unloading a car and in doing all of the work in relation thereto.

In deciding a motion which was made at the close of plaintiff’s case to direct a verdict for defendant, for the reasons that the dangers incident to the work were obvious and could be seen and appreciated by plaintiff, that the negligence, if any, was that of fellow-servants, which included the foreman, and on the ground of contributory negligence, the court, in denying the motion, among other things, found the following facts:

“In the business of defendant as conducted, it is shown conclusively, for the purpose of this motion, that the defendant had furnished a safe place and suitable appliances. That they were sufficient, if used, to insure the safety of the employees, barring unaccountable accident. The logs had been brought from a distance upon those same cars, and had been bound and held in place with the same chains and stakes. This applies until they arrived at the beech skidway.

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Related

McClure v. Detroit Southern Railroad
109 N.W. 847 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1906)
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115 N.W. 737 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1908)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
146 N.W. 426, 180 Mich. 43, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hilgbrandt-v-oval-wood-dish-co-mich-1914.