McIntyre v. Tebbetts

165 S.W. 757, 257 Mo. 117, 1914 Mo. LEXIS 283
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedApril 2, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 165 S.W. 757 (McIntyre v. Tebbetts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McIntyre v. Tebbetts, 165 S.W. 757, 257 Mo. 117, 1914 Mo. LEXIS 283 (Mo. 1914).

Opinions

WOODSON, J.

The plaintiff brought this suit in the circuit court of the city of St. Louis, against the defendants to recover $10,000' damages for personal injuries received by him through the alleged negligence of the defendants.

A trial was had in the circuit court which resulted in a judgment for the plaintiff, for the sum of $2500.

After moving unsuccessfully for a new trial, defendants appealed the cause to the St. Louis Court of Appeals. The majority opinion of that court, written by Judge Goode., reversing the judgment of the circuit court, was dissented from by Judge Noutoni, and as a [120]*120result thereof the cause was transferred to this court; and upon reaching- here it was assigned to Division No. 2, and there shared the same fate as it did in the Court of Appeals, and because of the latter dissent the cause was transferred to Court in Banc.

The case was again argued in Banc and after submission it fell to my lot to write the opinion of the court.

After having carefully read the record and briefs of counsel, as well as the various opinions written in the Court of Appeals and in Division No. 2 of this court, I have reached the conclusion that the majority opinion written by Judge Goode in the Court of Appeals correctly declares the law and properly applies it to the facts of the ease, and his opinion, with certain additions to be made, will be adopted as the opinion of this court, and is as follows (formal parts omitted):

“Defendants are partners engaged in the manufacture of carriages. In their service was Joseph Kuhr, who was in charge of a freight wagon, his task being to drive the wagon and manage the helpers or crew which accompanied it. The wagon was a large vehicle, weighing when unloaded four thousand pounds, and having a bed very much wider than the usual width of wagon beds. One use of this vehicle was to haul surreys, buggies and other vehicles in which defendants dealt, from their factory or warehouse to the shipping-stations of various railway companies in St. Louis, for shipment elsewhere. Usually six or seven crated vehicles were loaded in the wagon by the crew who went with it, hauled to the depot and unloaded there. Kuhr had command over employees who assisted in loading and unloading the wagon and accompanied it from the warehouse or factory to the depot, and besides directing these employees, he hired them. Three or four men were required to carry on the work of the wagon. A crew was not kept in regular employment, but when one was needed Kuhr would pick up and hire by the hour two or three men who were available and in the habit [121]*121of doing these odd jobs. The compensation allowed was seventeen and one-half cents an hour while they were at work. One of these men was plaintiff and he had been hired off and on four months; sometimes by Been, a clerk in one of defendants ’ warehouses, but oftener by Ruhr himself. Ruhr had also employed-other men when he needed them to help with the wagon, and his right to hire such help was recognized by defendants. When he had finished the job for which he had employed a crew, he would give the men their time and they would go to the office and get their money. On the day of the accident Ruhr had to haul some vehicles from the factory to a railway depot for shipment and needing a relay of men to assist in the work, told plaintiff, who appears to have been waiting about the factory in the hope of a job, to hunt up another man named Tom Malloy, whom Ruhr was in the habit of using for similar work, and hurry back, as there was not much time in which to get the load into the car. Plaintiff found Malloy, and Ruhr and these two men loaded the wagon and started to the depot, or rather to the John Deere Buggy Company’s warehouse or plant, through which the vehicles had to be carried to load them into the car. Their course took him in the vicinity of the shop where Been, the shipping clerk, was in charge. In the wagon was an implement known as a pinchbar, which Ruhr wished to leave at that shop; so he told plaintiff to take the bar to the shop, and meanwhile he (Ruhr) would drive across certain railway tracks' at the point and wait until plaintiff returned. Plaintiff took the bar as told, and on coming back to the wagon attempted to climb in the.front end where he had been riding and was expected to ride. Just as plaintiff planted his foot on the hub of the front wheels and rose, throwing his weight on the hub, Ruhr started the team, throwing plaintiff off the wagon on the street and injuring him seriously. Thus runs the evidence for plaintiff. In defense it is said Ruhr was a fellów-servant of plaintiff/ [122]*122•or, if a vice-principal part of the time, was a fellow-servant when he started the wagon and threw plaintiff off. This is the charge of negligence:

“ ‘Plaintiff says that on the said 29th day of January, 1907, and while in the performance of his duties as an employee of defendants, he was getting upon said wagon, and while he was upon one of the wheels of said wagon, the said “Joe” who was then and there acting for defendants and exercising his power to superintend, direct and control the operation of the said wagon, negligently and carelessly caused said wagon to he drawn forward, without warning or notification to plaintiff, although the said “Joe” knew, or by the exercise of proper care might have known, that plaintiff was on the wheels of said wagon and about to climb upon said wagon. Plaintiff states that in consequence of the negligent and careless movement of said wagon as aforesaid he was thrown violently to the ground, and his right leg and right side bruised and the sight of the right eye permanently destroyed and causing him great bodily pain.’
“The court refused to direct a verdict for defend.ants and refused to declare Kuhr was a fellow-servant •of plaintiff, at the instant of the accident. At defendants’ request the jury was told no presumption of negligence on the part of defendants arose from the fact of the accident, but the burden was on plaintiff to show he was injured because of defendants’ negligence in •starting while plaintiff was attempting to get into the wagon; that it was not negligence to start if defendants •did not, or by the exercise of ordinary care would not, have known plaintiff was attempting to get in at the time; that if plaintiff slipped and fell, but not as the result of any act of defendants or its agents or servants, the verdict must be for defendants. On the issues of whether or not Kuhr was a vice-principal usually, and whether he was acting as vice-principal or fellow-serv.ant when he drove forwrd just as plaintiff was stepping [123]*123into the wagon, the court gave these instructions, to which defendants excepted:
‘ ‘ ‘ The court instructs the jury that if you find and believe from the evidence that Joseph Ruhr was employed by defendants and'was a foreman in charge of the team and wagon in question, and the man employed on and about said wagon, and by virtue of his employment and position had immediate control and direction •of plaintiff and others engaged in working on and about said wagon and had authority to direct and control plaintiff’s work, then.the said Joseph Ruhr was a vice-principal and was not a fellow-servant of-plaintiff.

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Bluebook (online)
165 S.W. 757, 257 Mo. 117, 1914 Mo. LEXIS 283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcintyre-v-tebbetts-mo-1914.