Republic Iron & Steel Co. v. Berkes

70 N.E. 815, 162 Ind. 517, 1904 Ind. LEXIS 75
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedApril 22, 1904
DocketNo. 20,226
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 70 N.E. 815 (Republic Iron & Steel Co. v. Berkes) 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
Republic Iron & Steel Co. v. Berkes, 70 N.E. 815, 162 Ind. 517, 1904 Ind. LEXIS 75 (Ind. 1904).

Opinion

Jordan, J.

This action was prosecuted by appellee, as plaintiff below, to recover damages for personal injuries received while in the employ of appellant. A trial by jury resulted in a verdict in favor of appellee." Answers to numerous interrogatories were also returned by the jury along with their general verdict. Appellant, at .the close of appellee’s evidence, unsuccessfully moved the court to direct the jury to find in its favor. Its motion for a new trial [518]*518was denied, and judgment was rendered in favor of appellee for tlie damages awarded by the jury.

The complaint, in substance, avers and sets lip the following facts: On and prior to the 11th day of January, 1900, the date upon which appellee was injured, the defendant was a corporation incorporated under the laws of' the state of Illinois. On that day and prior thereto it was engaged, in the city of East Chicago, Lake county, Indiana, in manufacturing iron and steel. Plaintiff was an employe of appellant engaged in working as a common laborer in its mills and factory at said city, and at the time of receiving the injuries of which he complains he was working in the line of his duty. Defendant, on employing him to work in its mills and factory, put him 'at work cutting scrap iron into pieces by means of large iron shears operated in said factory. While engaged at this work the plaintiff was under the control and orders of one John Elack, who was foreman of the defendant in the department of its factory where the plaintiff worked. Elack, as such foreman, had the right and authority from defendant to order and direct the plaintiff in regard to the work in which he was engaged, and plaintiff was required to conform to and obey the orders and directions of the said foreman. At the time of the accident the plaintiff and another person in the employ óf the defendant were directed and required to cut into small pieces a long, crooked, and warped iron bar by means of the said shears provided by defendant for that purpose. Immediately prior to the injury received by plaintiff, as hereinafter stated, he and his assistant had properly placed this bar of iron in the jaws or mouth of the shears, and had pushed it as far back as possible, in order that when the knives of the shears came together they would cut the iron into square pieces without turning the bar over. Thq jaws of these shears, it is alleged, “worked up and down at regular intervals.” As plaintiff and his helper were in a proper manner placing the said bar [519]*519in the shears, and just at the time the jaws thereof had commenced to descend on the said iron bar, Flack, said foreman, then and there carelessly and negligently, in a loud tone of voice, and in a decisive and abrupt manner, ordered and directed plaintiff and his helper not to cut the iron bar at the point where plaintiff was about to cut it, but to cut it at another point. The complaint then proceeds to charge that the foreman negligently and carelessly gave said command and order at a time when it was extremely dangerous for the plaintiff to undertake to obey it. The plaintiff at the time had no knowledge of such danger, and had no time to consider the result of obeying the order. The danger to which he was subjected, as alleged, in obeying the order in question consisted in necessitating him at that time to withdraw the iron bar from the mouth of the shears. In order to obey the command of the foreman and to prevent the bar from being cut at the point where he had directed it should not be cut the plaintiff had to change quickly the position of the bar in the mouth of the shears to comply with the command. But in his attempt to change the position of the bar in the mouth of the shears, and to comply ydth the order given, the shears closed down and cut the bar near the end of the shears, and in such a manner as to cause it to turn and rebound from the mouth thereof, and with much force to strike the left leg of the plaintiff, thereby severely, injuring that limb. A xDarticular statement of the character and permanency of the injury, and the suffering endured by the plaintiff, and the money which he expended in attempting to heal and cure his said injuries, are all set out in the complaint. The pleading then proceeds to repeat the charge that the injuries received by the plaintiff were occasioned solely by the negligence and carelessness of the foreman in giving the order in question, which the plaintiff was bound to obey, and did obey, etc.

[520]*520It is evident under the facts alleged in the pleading that appellee based his cause of action on the second clause of §7083 Burns 1901, which provides “that every railroad or other corporation, * * * operating in this State, shall be liable for damages for personal injuries suffered by any employe while in its services, * * * in the following cases: * * * Second. Where such injury resulted from the negligence of any person in the service of such corporation, to whose order or direction the injured employe at the time of the injury was bound to conform, and did conform.” In fact, counsel for appellee contend that the complaint, under the facts, is sustained by this provision of the statute, which contention counsel for appellant apparently do not controvert. In respect to the construction of the clause of the section in question, see Louisville, etc., R. Co. v. Wagner, 153 Ind. 420; Thacker v. Chicago, etc., R. Co., 159 Ind. 82, 59 L. R. A. 792. A demurrer to the pleading was overruled, and appellant answered by the general denial.

Counsel for appellant contend that the judgment below should be reversed on the grounds (1) that the evidence fails to establish any negligence on the part of appellant’s foreman; (2) that the alleged negligence is not shown to have been the proximate cause of the injury received. Or, in other words, we are requested to adjudge that upon a consideration of all of the evidence most favorable to appellee, together with all of the reasonable inferences which may be drawn therefrom, the jury should have found in favor of appellant.

* The evidence, to an extent, is conflicting, and it will serve no useful purpose to recite it all in detail. It may be skid, however, that there is evidence to establish, among others, the following facts: Appellant at and prior to the accident in question was a corporation engaged in manufacturing iron and steel in the city of East Chicago, Lake county, Indiana. One James Black was the foreman in [521]*521its factory, and as such he had control and supervision of its employes in the department in whch appellee worked. On the 10th day of January, 1900, Elack, as such foreman, hired appellee to work for appellant in said factory, and on that day he put him to work in operating a pair of shears in cutting bars of scrap iron. Appellee Avas under the control of Flack, as foreman, and was required to conform to and obey his orders while at work. The accident by which appellee was injured occurred on the night of January 11, 1900.' On the day before— January 10, the day when appellee was put to work— he was furnished with a helper to aid him when he needed assistance. On the second dayj or on the night of the accident, it appears that he had not the same assistant that he had the day before, but a different employe. This helper, it appears, was a foreigner, and did not understand the English language. Of this fact the foreman appears to have had knowledge. Appellee, however, did not know this helper, nor did he know that he could not understand English. On the first day of appellee’s employment it appears that he sheared a lot of crooked pieces of iron.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
70 N.E. 815, 162 Ind. 517, 1904 Ind. LEXIS 75, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/republic-iron-steel-co-v-berkes-ind-1904.