Obenchain v. Harris & Cole Bros.

126 N.W. 960, 148 Iowa 86
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJune 16, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 126 N.W. 960 (Obenchain v. Harris & Cole Bros.) 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
Obenchain v. Harris & Cole Bros., 126 N.W. 960, 148 Iowa 86 (iowa 1910).

Opinion

Weaver, J.

The defendants are the proprietors of a factory in which they use various kinds of wood working machinery. The plaintiff was employed in one of their shops, and after he had served them about -six days was injured in the manner hereinafter indicated.

The evidence on his part tends to show that at the time of the accident he was thirty-nine years of age, and prior to taking up this employment had been engaged in. various lines of work. He had seen some service as a farmer, as a carpenter, as a motorman on the street cars, and as operator of an interlocking switch. He had also on former occasions worked for defendants in their glue-room and in piling lumber. He entered the service in which he was injured about March 4, 1908, and was told by defendants that their man who had operated a circular combination saw or ripsaw ha'd quit, and for the time being [88]*88they would put him at that work. Upon his statement that he had no experience with such machinery he was told he would soon become used to it, and was directed to rip certain boards into sizes suitable for some device that was being manufactured in the sihop. He was given general directions concerning the cutting of the boards and instructed that if he stood directly behind a board when sawing there was a liability of its “kicking back” and striking him in the stomach, and to avoid this danger he should remember not to stand directly behind the piece being fed into the saw. No other warning was given him. The saw was not protected by hood or shield, nor was the machine provided with a “spreader” or “divider” to prevent the gripping or pinching of the boards upon the saw. On the sixth day of this employment, a sudden moving or twisting of a board which he was then sawing had the effect to bring.his hand against the revolving saw, resulting in an injury by which he lost a thumb and two fingers. According to his testimony, the board did not “kick back,” but “jumped” or twisted to one side, a movement which the witness ascribed to the pinching of the board on the saw blade. The injury received is charged to defendant’s negligence, and recovery of damages therefor is asked. The specifications of negligence are that defendants, knowing him to be inexperienced and unskilled in such employment, put him to work with said saw without proper instruction or warning concerning the danger attending its operation. It 'also alleges that defendants neglected to provide for his use in such service safe, suitable and proper machinery and tools, and neglected and failed to furnish any guard or protection against such accidents as provided by the statute, by reason of which negligence it is claimed that plaintiff, without fault on his part, was injured as above stated. The defendants, denying the allegations of the petition, further pleaded in the following words: “That by reason of his employment [89]*89and the services plaintiff was engaged to perform for the defendants, he assumed the risk incident to such employment, and that one of the risks of such employment was the doing of acts alleged in his petition, and he assumed by reason of such employment the injury of which he complains.” The cause was tried to a jury, which returned a verdict for plaintiff, and from the judgment rendered thereon the defendant’s appeal.

In argument in this court appellants’ counsel confines his attention to four several propositions, which we shall briefly consider in the order of their statement in the brief.

1. Master and fnfury ^to servant: warning. I. It is said that the evidence without dispute shows .plaintiff to have been warned against the very peril .of which he complains, and that the allegation of negligence W respect is conclusively negatived. We not s0 read the record. The danger of ¿g, was wam0(J wag 0f a board being thrown backward from the saw and against his person, and not that of a board being thrown forward or upward drawing his hand into contact with the saw. As we understand the evidence of the construction and practical operation of the saw, these are distinct perils arising from different causes, or, if not arising from different causes, they are clearly different perils, and plaintiff’s testimony tends to show that he was instructed as to one only. The very phrase “kicking back” indicated a force moving from the saw in the direction of the operator and not from the operator forward in the direction of the saw. The danger suggested was that of injury from a flying board, and the instruction to stand on one side of the line of its probable flight excluded the idea that he was then being warned of the liability of his hand being drawn or thrown forward against the saw. The sufficiency of the 'warning is not so clearly established as to enable the court to dispose of it as a matter of law, and there was [90]*90no error in submitting it to the jury. Harney v. Railroad Co., 139 Iowa, 359; Wilder v. Cereal Co., 130 Iowa, 263; Lunde v. Cudahy, 139 Iowa, 688.

2. Same: assumption of risk: pleading.. II. It is further argued that in continuing to work after being warned of the danger plaintiff assumed the risk, regardless of defendant’s failure to furnish guards or shield for Protection °f their employees engaged in operating the saw. Our conclusion announced in the preceding paragraph, that the sufficiency of the warning given was a jury question, renders discussion of the objection here stated somewhat unnecessary. It may be well, however, to call attention to the fact that assumption of risk arising from defendants’ negligence, if any, is not pleaded as a defense, and the case of Sutton v. Bakery, 135 Iowa, 390, so far as it treats of that subject, is not in point. Indeed, the primary and controlling proposition in that decision was the failure of the plaintiff to show himself free from contributory negligence, though other features of the case were incidentally touched upon. The allegation in the answer that plaintiff “assumed the risk incident to- the employment” in which he was engaged added nothing whatever to the general denial which preceded it. As we have had frequent occasion to note, “assumption of risk” of the perils ordinarily incident to an employment where the master uses reasonable care for the safety of the servant is one 'thing, while “assumption of risk” from perils created or enhanced by the master’s lack of reasonable care is another thing, and for the master to have the benefit of such defense it must be affirmatively pleaded and proved. The answer in this case alleges assumption of the risk first mentioned only, and thereby adds nothing to the issues. It does not plead assumption of the risk of defendants’ negligence, and we can not therefore consider it. Marlin v. Light Co., 131 Iowa, 734; Vohs v. Shorthill, 130 Iowa, 544; Steele v. Grahl, 135 Iowa, 429; Fitter v. [91]*91Telpehone Co., 14.3 Iowa, 689; Duffey v. Coal Co., 147 Iowa, 225.

3. Same: failure to provide safety appliances: negligence. There was evidence strongly tending to show that the ripsaw by which plaintiff was injured could have been protected by shields or guards, thereby increasing the safety of the employees operating it, and especially that the pinching of the board upon the saw could have been effectually t ° avoided by -the use of. a divider placed immediately in 'the rear of the saw and entering the channel cut in the wood. This attachment was shown to be in common use upon such saws when used for this kind of work.

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Bluebook (online)
126 N.W. 960, 148 Iowa 86, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/obenchain-v-harris-cole-bros-iowa-1910.