New Albany Forge & Rolling Mill v. Cooper

30 N.E. 294, 131 Ind. 363, 1892 Ind. LEXIS 193
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 16, 1892
DocketNo. 15,100
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 30 N.E. 294 (New Albany Forge & Rolling Mill v. Cooper) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
New Albany Forge & Rolling Mill v. Cooper, 30 N.E. 294, 131 Ind. 363, 1892 Ind. LEXIS 193 (Ind. 1892).

Opinion

Coffey, J.

This was an action by the appellee, a minor, by his next friend, against the appellant, to recover damages occasioned by a personal injury. The complaint alleges, in substance, that the appellee, who was an infant, without knowledge or experience of the dangerous properties of hot slag or cinder, was employed by the appellant, a corporation ■engaged in forging and rolling iron, to carry and wheel away from a furnace, and dump upon adjacent ground, a part of which was covered with water, hot slag and cinder; that the appellant, with knowledge that such slag and cinder were liable to explode and injure the appellee if they came in contact with damp earth or water, negligently failed to instruct the appellee as to his duties, or to warn him of the danger of handling such slag and cinder, or to give him any instructions which would enable him to safely perform his duties; that on the third day of his service, and while he was, by the direction of the appellant’s foreman, engaged in wheeling away and dumping, at the place where he was directed to deposit the same, hot iron slag, it came in contact with a small quantity of water which had collected on the surface of the ground at that place, and at once exploded with force and violence, burning and wounding the appellee, and destroying his eyesight, etc.; that the appellee’s injuries were caused solely by the negligence of the appellant, and without any fault or negligence on the part of the appellee.

A trial of the cause resulted in a verdict for the appellee, upon which the court, over a motion for a new trial, rendered judgment.

The assignment of errors calls in question the propriety of the ruling of the circuit court in overruling a demurrer to the complaint, and in overruling the appellant’s motion for a new trial.

[365]*365The objections .urged to the complaint are, that it does not appear therefrom that the appellant knew or had the opportunity of knowing that there was, at or before the accident therein described occurred, any water or damp earth upon the dumping ground, and that it does appear from the allegations in the complaint that the appellee was guilty of contributory negligence.

Much of the argument against the sufficiency of this complaint is addressed to matters which could not arise except on motion to make the complaint more specific, and do not, therefore, arise upon demurrer.

We think the complaint states a cause of action. In view of its allegations in relation to the ignorance of the appellee, there is nothing in it from which it can be inferred that the appellee was guilty of negligence. As the place the appellee was directed by the appellant to dump the slag and cinder is alleged to have been covered by water, the presumption is that such fact was known to the appellant.-

Judge Thompson, in his work on Negligence, vol. 2, p. 977-8, says: The law imposes upon the master, when he takes an infant into his service, the duty of explaining to him fully the hazard and dangers connected with the business, and of instructing him how to avoid them. * * The master will not have discharged his duty in this regard unless the instructions and precautions given are so graduated to the youth, ignorance, and inexperience of the servant as to make him fully aware of the danger to him, and to place him, with reference to it, in substantially the same situation as if he were an.adult.” So, in the case of Thall v. Carnie, 5 N. Y. Sup. 244, it was said: “ When a master engages an inexperienced servant, especially if of tender years and presumed ignorance, and places him in a place, of latent or obscure danger, it is the duty of the master to instruct the servant how to do the work, and at the same time be on his guard against the danger, and he is liable for injuries occasioned by failure to give such instructions.” See, also, [366]*366Cleveland, etc., Co. v. Corrigan, 20 N. E. Rep. 466; Gamble v. Hines, 50 Hun, 604.

It was assigned as reasons for a new trial:

First. That the damages assessed were excessive.

Second. That the verdict of the jury was not supported or sustained by sufficient evidence.

Third. That the verdict was contrary to law!

Fourth. That the court erred in giving, in refusing to give, and in modifying instructions.

The first reason assigned is not argued, and for that reason is waived.

The evidence in the cause, as it comes to us, establishes the following facts: the appellant is the owner of a rolling mill in the city of New Albany, in which scrap-iron is heated and rolled into bars suitable for the market. It furnishes the furnaces, rollers, scrap-iron and fuel necessary to carry on the business. At the time of the accident in question the appellant had a contract with one Murphy, by the terms of which the appellant furnished to him the scrap-iron, properly assorted and arranged, to be put into the furnace to be heated to the proper temperature for squeezing and rolling. The appellant was also to furnish the necessary fuel-and heat to heat the iron, and Murphy’s contract required him to heat it properly, and deliver it at the squeezer, where it was squeezed and delivered to the rollers to be rolled into bars. By the terms of this contract Murphy received ,a stipulated price for each ton heated by him. In placing the iron in the furnace, taking it out, delivering it at the squeezer and removing the slag and cinder, Murphy required assistance. This assistance was hired and paid for by himself at such price as he and his helpers might agree upon. One of Murphy’s regular helpers being ill, the appellee was hired by Murphy to take his place temporarily. On the third day of his employment he dumped some slag into a small pool of water, when an explosion took place, resulting in serious and permanent injuries to the appellee.

[367]*367The evidence tends to show that when hot slag is dumped upon damp ground or into water it is liable- to explode, and is very dangerous. Of this tendency the appellee, it is claimed, was ignorant, and was not informed of the fact either by the appellant or Murphy. He was, at the time of the accident, about nineteen years old. The appellant’s business was under the control and management of a general superintendent, who managed the rolling mill and the forge works connected therewith, while the rolling mill was under the immediate control of a superintendent appointed for that purpose. It was part of the business of the superintendent of the rolling mill to see that those who had contracts for heating iron did a certain amount of work each day, and that it was properly done. He also had power to discharge such heaters, but had nothing to do with hiring their helpers, keeping their time or paying them.

At the proper time the appellant asked the court to give the jury the following instruction :

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Bluebook (online)
30 N.E. 294, 131 Ind. 363, 1892 Ind. LEXIS 193, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/new-albany-forge-rolling-mill-v-cooper-ind-1892.