Pequignot v. Germain

142 N.W. 1092, 176 Mich. 659, 1913 Mich. LEXIS 678
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 30, 1913
DocketDocket No. 11
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 142 N.W. 1092 (Pequignot v. Germain) 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
Pequignot v. Germain, 142 N.W. 1092, 176 Mich. 659, 1913 Mich. LEXIS 678 (Mich. 1913).

Opinion

Moore, J.

The plaintiff, a minor, by his next friend, brought suit under Act No. 220 of the Public Acts of 1911 (2 How. Stat. [2d Ed.] §4017 et seq.), [660]*660prohibiting the employment of male persons under the age of 18 years at hazardous employment, to recover damages for the cutting off of the first and second fingers of his right hand at about the middle joint. From a judgment in favor of the plaintiff, the case is brought here by writ of error.

At the conclusion of plaintiff’s testimony, and again at the close of all the testimony, defendant asked for a directed verdict, which was refused. Counsel for appellant in the brief say:

“The errors complained of are because of rulings on the misconduct of plaintiff’s counsel in arguing the case, refusal to take the case from the jury at the conclusion of plaintiff’s case and at the end of the whole evidence, in refusing to give defendant’s written requests to charge, and to the charge as given. There are 24 assignments of error, upon all of which defendant relies, excepting the first, fourth, fifth, sixth, and eleventh, which are abandoned as not sufficiently prejudicial to justify reversal.”

The accident happened December 7, 1911. The plaintiff was born January 22, 1896, and was given an employment permit under section 10, Act No. 285, of the Public Acts of 1909, dated December 29, 1910. Photographs of the saw and table where the injury occurred were offered in evidence, and show that a guard was on the table, and when in position came down over the saw, so as to be as effective as a guard could well be. The board which plaintiff was holding when hurt is in evidence. It is a soft pine board, with a hard knot in it about two inches in diameter, through which the saw passed. The plaintiff pushed the board through to the end, cutting off a strip about two inches wide.

In our view of the case it is desirable to quote freely from the testimony of the plaintiff. He testified in part as follows:

“I am the plaintiff in this case. On the 7th day of [661]*661December, 1911, I was employed by Mr. Germain, the defendant in this case, in the cutting room in Ger-main’s factory on Holland street in the city of Saginaw. I was working on the rip table on the 7th day of December, 1911. I had been working on that rip table about two days. I first went to work on the rip table the day before. * * * Two fellows were cutting up lumber. I was taking it and ripping it up into most any size, to get the best out of it. The size of this particular piece that I was sawing at the time of the injury must have been about 12 inches wide, about 18 or 19 inches long, an inch and a half or quarter thick, or an inch and a half. I was required to rip off the worst. * * * The guide was about 2 inches from the saw. I had little sticks to place in between the guide and the saw, and place the board up against when I pushed in here. By that adjustment I could saw off any width piece off the board I wanted to. I took the board; laid it so. I wanted to work off the piece. It was about 12 inches wide. I wanted to rip a 2-inch slab off it. The saw choked. I gave it a shove. It choked. I shoved it, and my hand got on the saw and cut a couple of fingers off.
“Q. How did you place the board there?
“A. Thumb on the back, two fingers and the thumb on the back of the board, two fingers on the back, two on the side, and pushed it down at the same time, and shoved this through. It choked up, and the board jumped up. It came and shoved it over, and knocked my hand over some way, and my hand got in the saw. It happened so quick I don’t hardly know how it did it. It cut a couple of fingers off.
“Q. Show them to the jury. (Witness does as requested.) They were cut off at about the middle joint, two fingers, first and second on my right hand.
“Q. State how the saw was worked at the time of the injury, at the time you were ripping this particulSri* bo9<rd.
“A. Why, I put the board on the table, and was going to rip off a piece 2 inches. The saw started to choke and jump. The board throwed my hand over off the board. At the time this injury happened, the board jumped up and down. I held it down, shoved it through.
[662]*662“Q. Explain how you came to get your fingers taken off.
“A. It happened so quick, I couldn’t say just how it happened; but I know that the piece I ripped about 12 inches wide. I ripped off a piece 2 inches. I started to rip it; ripped a little way; it started to jump; the board jumped up and down; I stood there; it gave a jump; it went right over; it jumped all the way over. I don’t know just exactly how it jumped up, and my fingers was cut off. I was paying attention to my business at the time. There was a spreader on here, a guard, I think a half an inch, here below the board it would be 9 or 10 inches, and then there was a spreader in there. It is kept on there to keep from closing in on the top, and the spreader, there is a guard about a half an inch wide, sort of a guard. It is supposed to come from the top here. It is about a half an inch from the top of the saw. The guard on the saw I was working on was up about 5 or 10 inches from the saw. It wasn’t put down where it belonged.
“Mr. Weadock: I object to that; no allegation as ' to that.
“The Court: You don’t claim anything about furnishing proper guard fpr the saws?
“Mr. Snow: No; only to guard the machine.
“Mr. Weadock: I object to that as wholly incompetent and immaterial under the declaration.
“The Court: As long as counsel says he doesn’t claim anything for it, I don’t see how it is improper. He says he doesn’t claim anything about furnishing the proper guards for the saw.
“Mr.- Weadock: It might be prejudicial when it goes to the jury.
“The Court: So far as the question of the saw being properly guarded, I now instruct the jury that they should not consider this testimony.
“Q. Did you, before you worked on this particular saw, work on a ripsaw?
“A. I worked on one ripsaw. Ripped organ parts about a week, but not steady. It might have been more than a week; it might have been less. I didn’t keep track of the time. I didn’t keep track of it. I worked a day or so, and then back on the other place where I belonged. Maybe I would go back again and work a half a day or so.
[663]*663“Q. Was it a saw similar to this one you happened to be injured upon?
“A. The table was higher and bigger. Instead of having a guard or the board you had one you could move any place you wanted to rip the board. At the time when I went to work on this saw it was running. I don’t know I couldn’t say how fast it would revolve.
“Q. How long had you been employed by Mr. Ger-main? How long had you worked there?
“A. Pretty close to 2 years and perhaps 8 months.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
142 N.W. 1092, 176 Mich. 659, 1913 Mich. LEXIS 678, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pequignot-v-germain-mich-1913.