Kutz v. Acklin Stamping Co.

8 Ohio App. 70, 28 Ohio C.C. Dec. 273, 27 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 273, 27 Ohio C.A. 273, 1917 Ohio App. LEXIS 337
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 5, 1917
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 8 Ohio App. 70 (Kutz v. Acklin Stamping Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kutz v. Acklin Stamping Co., 8 Ohio App. 70, 28 Ohio C.C. Dec. 273, 27 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 273, 27 Ohio C.A. 273, 1917 Ohio App. LEXIS 337 (Ohio Ct. App. 1917).

Opinion

Hughes, J.

The defendant owned and operated a factory or workshop in the city of Toledo, Ohio, with more than five employes engaged. The plaintiff, Walter Kutz, a minor between fifteen and sixteen years of age, was employed by the defendant during the latter part of May, to assist a stamper working on a stamping machine, by carrying to him what is known as yoke ends, or small pieces of steel, and placing them on a board near the machine. He was employed by the defendant [71]*71to work during the night, from about six o’clock in the evening until five o’clock in the morning.

When the contract of employment was entered into there was no schooling certificate either produced by the plaintiff or procured by the defendant, nor was any reference or inquiry made regarding the same by either party.

It is contended on behalf of the defendant that the father of this boy represented to it that the boy was over sixteen years of age, but there is no claim and no evidence to support a claim that any inquiry was made of the boy or any assertion made by him regarding his age at or before the time he was employed.

On the night of June 28 a ventilating fan was installed by the defendant in an opening in one end of its building. This fan was four and a half feet in diameter, about four feet above the floor, with its steel blades projecting three and a half inches inside the line of the wall. The fan was installed on this day and put in operation before guards were placed about it. It is the claim of the defendant that it was started on this night for the purpose of testing, and that guards were to be placed about it later.

The plaintiff’s hand, as he claims, as he was reaching in a barrel for some of these yoke ends, came in contact with the steel blades of this revolving fan and was so injured that it became necessary to amputate it. Defendant asserts that plaintiff was throwing paper in the fan and thereby was injured.

The trial court directed the jury that it should disregard and give no heed whatsoever to the fact [72]*72that the plaintiff was a minor; in effect charging that plaintiff came within the workmen’s compensation laws of this state, and, having elected to sue instead of asking for compensation out of the state insurance fund, became subject to all of the laws of this act, and that the defendant was entitled to the defenses of the common law, namely, contributory negligence and assumed risk.

There are numerous errors assigned, all of which have been examined into with care but will not be discussed separately for the reason that the general discussion following sufficiently disposes of them all.

If the plaintiff was an employe within the meaning of the workmen’s compensation act, the theory of the defendant and the trial court is correct.

An employer who has complied with the terms of this act is not liable for personal injuries to an employe in a civil action, but such employe must receive his compensation out of the state insurance fund. The exception to this is ■ found, however, in Section 1465-76, General Code, which reads as follows:

* * * And in case such injury has arisen from the wilful act of such employer or any of such employer’s officers or agents, or from the failure of such employer or any of such employer’s officers or agents to comply with any lawful requirement for the protection of the lives and safety of employes, then in such event, nothing in this act contained shall affect the civil liability of such employer, but such injured employe, * * * may, at his option, either claim compensation under this act or institute proceedings in the courts for his [73]*73damage on account of such injury; * * * and in all actions authorized by this section, the defendant shall be entitled to plead the defense of contributory negligence and the defense of the fellow-servant rule; * * * ”

Another section of this act, Section 1465-93, General Code, reads as follows:

“A minor working at an age legally permitted under the laws of this state, shall be deemed sui juris for the purposes of this act, and no other person shall have any cause of action or right to compensation for an injury to such minor workman, but in the event of the award of a lump sum of compensation to such minor employe, such sum shall be paid only to the legally appointed guardian of such minor.”

The trial court no doubt assumed that the plaintiff in this case was within the terms of the act and therefore sui juris, and, having elected to sue in' the civil court, the defendant was entitled to plead the defense of contributory negligence and the fellow-servant rule.

The word “employee” as used in this act, is defined to be, in so far as a minor is concerned, “every person in the service of any person, * * * and also including minors who are legally permitted to work for hire under the laws of the state.” Section 1465-61, General Code.

It is here observed that a minor who is legally permitted to work for hire under the laws of this state is an employe within the terms of this act, but not otherwise.

There was no intention of the legislature to abridge the operation of the other statutes of our [74]*74state. This act was passed for the purpose of creating a state insurance fund for the benefit of injured and the dependents of killed employes, and to provide for the administration of such fund. The purpose of the law is to compel the -industries of the state to bear the burden of accidents occurring in their operation, and the fund is created for this purpose. The right to participate in this fund is given to none other than employes or their dependents.

The act furnishes no excuse to the employer for violating any of the other statutory obligations regarding labor and minors. And under the laws of this state, if the employer does not come within the terms of the workmen’s compensation act, he is amenable to all of the other statutes of the state. He is prohibited by statute from employing minors under sixteen years of age before exácting from the minor the age and schooling certificate provided by law.

Section 12975 reads as follows:

“Whoever employs a minor under sixteen years of age before exacting from such minor the age and schooling certificate provided by law, or fails to keep such certificate on file, or who fails to return to the superintendent of schools or the person authorized by him such certificate within two days from such minor’s withdrawal or dismissal from his services as provided in section seventy-seven hundred and sixty or to permit a truant officer, upon request therefor, to examine such certificate, shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than fifty dollars.”

[75]*75And by virtue of Section 12994, an employer is not only prohibited from employing a minor in any of the occupations described in Section 12993, but is also prohibited from permitting a minor under sixteen years of age to work in connection with any of these vocations unless such employer has first procured from the proper authorities the age and schooling certificate provided by law. These two sections read as follows:

“Sec. 12993. No male child under fifteen years or female child under sixteen years of.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
8 Ohio App. 70, 28 Ohio C.C. Dec. 273, 27 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 273, 27 Ohio C.A. 273, 1917 Ohio App. LEXIS 337, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kutz-v-acklin-stamping-co-ohioctapp-1917.