Lydman v. De Haas

151 N.W. 718, 185 Mich. 128, 1915 Mich. LEXIS 950
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 18, 1915
DocketDocket No. 41
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 151 N.W. 718 (Lydman v. De Haas) 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
Lydman v. De Haas, 151 N.W. 718, 185 Mich. 128, 1915 Mich. LEXIS 950 (Mich. 1915).

Opinion

Stone, J.

This action was brought to recover damages for an injury to the left hand of the plaintiff, received on September 9, 1912. This was a few days after the workmen’s compensation act took effect, and about a month before the defendant went out of business; the said defendant not having elected to pay compensation under the said act.

The defendant, ás lessee, had been running a sawmill at Skanee, Baraga county, for about 20 years. [130]*130The plaintiff had worked for defendant for some time about six years before, and during the summer of 1912 he worked for defendant abaut two months altogether; first behind the slab saw, then outside at various duties, and finally back in the mill running the lath machine — “shoving lath,” as it is called. This lath machine was on a bench or table approximately waist high, about 3 feet wide from front to back (the front being the plaintiff’s position), and some 8 feet long from left to right. The machine consisted of two lath saws about 12 inches in diameter, hung on a horizontal shaft just below the bed of this bench, so that the saws came up through the bench some 3 or 4 inches. The bench extended to the left of the saws toward the bolter saw about 5 feet. In front of these saws there was a pair of feed rollers, one lying in the bed of the bench and the other immediately over it. These rollers were about 3% inches from the saws, were about 1% inches apart, and had jagged teeth. They turned toward the saws so that if a block of wood were shoved against them they engaged it with their teeth and carried it along and forced it against the saws. There was another pair of similar rollers behind the saws, which took the block after it had passed the saws, and a man. was stationed there to receive it and the laths that had been cut from it. At the right hand of the plaintiff there was a lever which raised, simultaneously, the upper roller of each pair so as to disengage both pairs from any timber between them and permit its removal, if it projected out from the machine far enough on either side to permit the man on that side to grasp it, or, if it did not so project, to permit the insertion of another piece to dislodge it.

All of this machinery was covered in front and above so that there was no way for a man’s hand to come in contact with the saws except through these [131]*131rollers. By reaching around to the left of and behind the rollers, however, the saws could be reached. Beneath the bench and the saws was a chute which conveyed the sawdust, broken pieces, chips, etc., to the burner. There was a side guide against which the bolt was pressed when it was shoved against the front rollers. One lath was cut between this guide and the nearest saw, and another lath was cut between the two saws. The saws and rollers were on the left of this guide, occupying a space of about 5 by 18 inches, while all the bearings and means of driving the saws and rollers were on the right of this guide, as the plaintiff stood at his work. All the machinery, shaftings, bearings, pulleys, saws, and rollers occupied a space approximately 2 feet square on the bench, and extended above the bench about 6 inches. The opening on the left side is this 6-inch space between the bench and the covering over the machinery above mentioned. Next to the right from this guide came the first bearing of the saw shaft, then the pulley which drove the saws, and farthest to the right was the second bearing. The belt which drove this shaft ran down through the floor to the power pulley, so that should the bearings wear away, or the babbitt melt and run out of the bearings, as the plaintiff claimed often happened, and thus gave the shaft additional space in the bearings, the tension of the belt would pull the shaft down to the bottom of that space, and the effect would be to lower the shaft and the saws. The plaintiff, on the trial, contended that the bearing next the saws frequently became thus worn; that because thereof the end of the shaft carrying the saws often was lowered; that at such times the saws ran in a plane slightly out of a true perpendicular, and made a wedge-shaped and unmerchantable lath; and that this position of the saws tended to increase the breaking of bolts, and to increase the [132]*132liability of pieces becoming lodged around the saws.

At the time of the injury plaintiff was operating this lath machine, i. e., was “shoving lath.” Four days before this, Goodreau, the regular lath shover, had gone away for a visit. Plaintiff, then working outside, was instructed to go into the mill and pick edgings, but refused, saying: “I don’t like to pick edgings. If I am going in thé mill, I will take Goodreau’s place” — and this he did. The lath were manufactured from the refuse of the sawmill. The slabs and edgings that were discarded in the manufacture of lumber were cut into four-foot lengths, and such of them as were suitable for lath were taken to the bolter saw, where they were cut into bolts. The bolts vary greatly in width, being as wide as the material from which they are cut will permit. Some were wide enough to make two laths, some six or eight. These bolts, from the nature of their origin, were defective .and frequently broke from no other cause than inherent weakness, such as knots, cross-grain, dry and checked hemlock, broken slabs, etc. Plaintiff was shoving these bolts into this lath machine. A man stood behind the lath machine and received the lath and remnant of bolt. If the remnant had sufficient width, he passed it back to the plaintiff, and it was fed through again. This was repeated until the bolt was used up. The bolter saw was located at the left end of the lath machine bench, about five feet distant from plaintiff’s position. The man who operated this bolter saw as the bolts were cut piled them on the lath machine bench between the bolter saw and the lath saws. This brought the pile of bolts to the plaintiff’s left hand. Shortly before the accident, a bolt, on its last cut when its liability to break was at the greatest, broke, and a piece of it stuck in front of the saws in some way not explained. Until this piece was removed it prevented further making of lath. [133]*133This condition existed for some little time before the accident.

The defendant claims that the theory on which the plaintiff relied at the trial was altogether different from the theory set forth in his declaration; that the theory of the declaration was, in a word, an improperly constructed chute, viz., that the accident resulted solely because the chute below the bench and lath saws was so improperly constructed that, instead of permitting the pieces of broken bolts to fall away as they ought, caused them to lodge therein; and that the condition of the babbitt and saws only increased the frequency of the breaking of the bolts; and our attention is called to the language of the declaration, as follows:

“That the plaintiff while engaged in cutting a bolt of wood into lath, a bolt of wood broke, and a piece of said bolt became lodged in the chute hereinbefore mentioned in such a manner as to prevent the further manufacture of lath until the same was removed. That, in order to remove said piece of bolt, plaintiff reached his left hand into said chute and was injured by coming in contact with the saw. * * * That the defendant owed the duty of informing the plaintiff of the increased danger of bolts breaking, and that he failed in that duty.”

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

Related

Smeester v. Pub-N-Grub, Inc.
500 N.W.2d 742 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1993)
Smeester v. Pub-N-Grub, Inc.
480 N.W.2d 329 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 1991)
Faltinali v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.
182 A. 605 (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1936)
Stevenson v. Douros
235 N.W. 707 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1931)
West Lumber Co. v. Morris & Barnes
257 S.W. 592 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1923)
Narregang v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co.
194 N.W. 410 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1923)
Estep v. Price
115 S.E. 861 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1923)
Hipner v. Stuart
187 N.W. 374 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1922)
Horn v. Parke, Davis & Co.
184 N.W. 416 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1921)
Smith v. Hyne
175 N.W. 293 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1919)
Munn v. Michigan State Telephone Co.
172 N.W. 592 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1919)
Wudlick v. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co.
169 N.W. 830 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1918)
Stornelli v. Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railway Co.
160 N.W. 415 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1916)
De Francesco v. Piney Mining Co.
86 S.E. 777 (West Virginia Supreme Court, 1915)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
151 N.W. 718, 185 Mich. 128, 1915 Mich. LEXIS 950, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lydman-v-de-haas-mich-1915.