Home/Supreme Court of Iowa/Knudtson v. Swenson

Knudtson v. Swenson

155 N.W.2d 756, 261 Iowa 929
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJanuary 9, 1968
Docket52581
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 155 N.W.2d 756 (Knudtson v. Swenson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Knudtson v. Swenson, 155 N.W.2d 756, 261 Iowa 929 (iowa 1968).

Opinions

SNELL, Justice.

This is a farm accident case. It presents a vivid illustration in support of legislation in the field of workmen’s compensation for farm labor. That is a problem for the legislature. We have no authority to legislate. Until we have such legislation there must be more than evidence of an on-the-job injury to support recovery of damages. In this case a sympathetic trial judge made an award to plaintiff. If supported by substantial evidence the findings are binding on us. However, we fail to find factual support, i. e. evidence, for his findings as to actionable negligence, proximate cause and freedom from contributory negligence. More than usual quotation from the record seems necessary.

Plaintiff herein was injured on September 19, 1964 in a silo filling operation. He lost a hand in moving machinery. Plaintiff was an employee of defendant, Gordon Swenson.

Defendant, Gordon Swenson, was the owner and operator of silo filling equipment. He did custom work for farmers. He furnished a tractor and field cutter, three unloading (chop) wagons, the silage blower and tractor, and the labor of two men. He operated the field cutter, and his employee, plaintiff herein, operated the blower at the silo and the machinery unloading the silage from the wagons to the blower. Swen-son was an independent contractor and was paid $10 or $11 a foot for filling the silo.

Defendant, Melvin Juveland, was a farmer and had a silo holding about 70 tons. By oral contract he employed Swenson to fill his silo. Juveland was to furnish three men and three tractors to pull the wagons. His men were his two sons and Harlan Even-son, a neighbor.

Harlan Evenson was a farmer who exchanged work with Juveland. He was helping on an exchange of work basis with no cash pay involved. He operated one of the tractors and hauled wagons from the field to the blower. At least part of the time he helped plaintiff in the unloading of the wagons, i. e. the wagons he brought in. The wagons furnished by defendant Swenson included two John Deere Chuck Wagons Model 110.' One of the chuck wagons was being unloaded when plaintiff was injured.

The trial court in Findings of Fact described the operation of the chuck wagon as follows:

“The John Deere Model 110 Chuck Wagon owned by the Defendant Swenson * * * was a wagon among other things designed for hauling cut silage from the field to the silo for unloading into a blower and eventually the silage would be blown into the silo; that said wagon is equipped with an apron belt on the bottom part of the body of the wagon box for moving the silage forward; that on the front end of the box there are three sets of beaters which [758]*758pull the silage from the box to the conveyer at the front end of the box; that there are about 48 spokes on each of the three beaters and the beaters are about three inches in length and one-half inch in diameter; that as the apron at the bottom of the box moves forward the silage is moved forward toward the beaters which break up the silage so that it becomes loose and goes into the conveyer on the front of the wagon which in turn conveys the silage from the wagon into the blower which eventually elevates the silage into the silo. (Exhibits D-A and D-D show the type of wagon.)
[We reproduce these exhibits from the record.]

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Related

Postma v. Iowa District Court for Plymouth County
439 N.W.2d 179 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1989)
Dobson v. Jewell
189 N.W.2d 547 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1971)
Knudtson v. Swenson
155 N.W.2d 756 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
155 N.W.2d 756, 261 Iowa 929, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/knudtson-v-swenson-iowa-1968.