Jenson v. Will & Finck Co.

89 P. 113, 150 Cal. 398, 1907 Cal. LEXIS 530
California Supreme Court·Decided February 1, 1907·No. S.F. No. 3856.·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinion

LORIGAN, J.

Plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained while in the employment of defendant. The cause was tried before a jury, who returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff for seven thousand five hundred dollars, upon which judgment was entered. A motion by defendant for a new trial was denied, and this appeal is from such order alone. There is no appeal from the judgment. The complaint alleged that on February 9, 1901, defendant was carrying on business in the city of San Francisco and maintaining in the basement of premises No. 100 O’Farrell Street a warehouse, where it kept a stock of merchandise, and operated in said premises an elevator for the purpose of transporting goods from said basement to the sidewalk in front of said premises; that for the purpose of transporting said goods therefrom it was necessary to place the goods in a wheeled truck, which was placed upon the elevator and hoisted thereon to said sidewalk; that prior to the ninth day of February, 1901, plaintiff had been employed as a cash boy in defendant’s store, Nos. 818-820 Market Street, and prior to said date had never had any experience whatever in the work of transporting goods in trucks from the basement of said premises, No. 100 O ’Farrell Street, to said sidewalk, or any experience whatever in handling or transporting goods in elevators; that on said day defendant, well knowing the inexperience of plaintiff in the work of so transporting goods, and well knowing the inexperience of plaintiff in handling and transporting goods upon the said elevator or any elevator, put plaintiff to work in said basement, *401 and directed him to attend to the transportation and transfer by means of said wheeled trucks of the goods of said defendant from the said basement; that in order to transport said goods as aforesaid it was necesary for plaintiff, in the performance of such duties, to go on said elevator with the truck load of goods; that the work of transporting suph goods in a truck on said elevator was a hazardous undertaking and the hazard was known to defendant and unknown to plaintiff; that plaintiff was unfamiliar with the dangers attending said work which he was ordered to do on said day, and was unfamiliar with the dangers of transporting said goods; that before ordering plaintiff to do the work of transporting goods in said trucks from said basement to the sidewalk, defendant did not give plaintiff any instructions or directions whatever as to the manner in which he should perform his work or transport said goods from said basement; that while plaintiff on said day was in the act of transporting from said basement to the sidewalk on the elevator a large quantity of goods belonging to defendant in one of its wheeled trucks, plaintiff’s right leg and foot, without any negligence on his part, were crushed between the platform of the elevator and the sidewalk, and were then and there mangled and bruised; that on account of said injuries it was necessary to amputate plaintiff’s leg and foot.

The answer of defendant denied the allegations of the complaint, and set up affirmatively, among other separate defenses, that plaintiff violated instructions, and that he had knowledge during his employment of all the dangers incident to his work in connection with said trucks and elevator, and assumed the risk.

Upon this appeal it is contended that the evidence was insufficient to justify the verdict; that the court erred in denying defendant’s motion for a nonsuit, and erred also in its rulings on the admission of evidence and in giving and refusing certain instructions.

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Jenson v. Will & Finck Co., 89 P. 113, 150 Cal. 398, 1907 Cal. LEXIS 530 (Cal. 1907).

89 P. 113 (Jenson v. Will & Finck Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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