Smith v. Otto Hendrickson Post 212, American Legion

62 N.W.2d 354, 241 Minn. 46, 1954 Minn. LEXIS 551
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 15, 1954
DocketNos. 36,076, 36,077, 36,095, 36,096
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 62 N.W.2d 354 (Smith v. Otto Hendrickson Post 212, American Legion) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Otto Hendrickson Post 212, American Legion, 62 N.W.2d 354, 241 Minn. 46, 1954 Minn. LEXIS 551 (Mich. 1954).

Opinion

Nelson, Justice.

Kenneth Smith, a minor, was injured on December 20, 1950, when sliding down a chute located on premises owned by Otto Hendrickson Post 212, American Legion, a corporation, and Lampert Lumber Company, a corporation. He lacked ten days of being in his tenth year. Actions were commenced by the minor through his father and natural guardian to recover for his injuries, and by Virgil Smith on his own behalf, for consequential damages to which he might be entitled as father of the minor. The two cases were consolidated for purposes of trial and are submitted as a single case on this appeal. Verdicts were rendered by the jury in favor of plaintiffs against both defendants on December 14, 1951. Judgments were entered pursuant thereto, and both defendants appealed from the judgments.

[48]*48For the sake of brevity we will hereinafter refer to Kenneth Smith, the minor plaintiff, as Kenneth; to his father, also a plaintiff, as Virgil Smith; to defendant Otto Hendrickson Post 212, American Legion, as Legion; and to defendant Lampert Lumber Company as Lampert.

If all conflicts in the evidence are resolved in favor of the prevailing parties below, the facts appear to be as follows:

Legion and Lampert owned adjoining premises in the village of Park Rapids, Hubbard county, Minnesota, Legion being the owner of lot 20 of block 2, and Lampert being the owner of lots 21, 22, and the south half of lot 23, all in block 2 of the same addition. The Lampert lumberyard and buildings were north of the building owned and partially occupied by the Legion. The buildings faced a street on the west, and there was an alley in the rear of the lots. The Legion building was 25 feet in width and 140 feet in length and it was set in from the edge of lot 20 adjoining lot 21 by five inches. Legion occupied the second floor of the Legion building. This second floor was only 60 feet long, opening on 80 feet of roof area at the back. The Lampert building was shorter than the Legion’s by approximately 40 feet. It was located approximately two feet north of the lot line between lots 20 and 21, although the front of the building, on the west, extended to within three inches of the Legion building because of a false front. This two-foot strip on the south side of Lampert’s lot was occupied by a concrete gutter running toward the alley, and the eaves on the south side of the Lampert building also projected over this area to within six inches of Legion’s north wall.

In March 1948 Legion built a chute on its north wall, approximately one and one-half feet wide and 38.3, feet long, consisting of a sloping portion of 31 feet and a level portion at the bottom of seven and three-tenths feet, ending four feet above the ground level in the alley. The chute, which was not enclosed, was lined with overlapping galvanized metal. The chute was supported by five uprights on each side, each consisting of two two-by-fours nailed together. These supports were not sawed off even with the sides of [49]*49the chute, but protruded above the sides. On the south side of the chute was the brick wall of the Legion building; on the north was a woven-wire and barbed-wire fence at the edge of Lampert’s concrete loading platform, with bricks piled up against the fence and leaning against the chute. The major portion of the chute consisting of one foot, nine and three-tenths inches was on Lampert property.

Plaintiffs contend that the chute was built to facilitate the removal of beverage cases from the Legion club to the alley., Legion, however, maintains that it was constructed for use as a fire escape. Whatever its original purpose, the evidence reveals, that the deputy state fire marshal refused to recognize the chute as a fire escape and ordered the construction of an open stairway on the south side of the Legion building, which was completed two weeks after the chute had been constructed. Furthermore, the evidence shows that the chute was rarely used by Legion in removing beverage cases, the new stairs proving more satisfactory for that purpose. In spite of this, however, the chute was left in position.

Both the chute and the stairs were open and unenclosed, with no warning signs to children or trespassers on either roof, chute, or stairs.

From the time of construction of the chute in 1948 to the date of the accident in December 1950, children of the approximate age of Kenneth were playing on and sliding down the chute. Sometimes the children would climb the stairway on the south side of the Legion building, cross the roof and slide down the chute; sometimes they would climb the chute itself and then slide down. To speed the descent during the winter months the boys would often either throw snow on the chute or sit on a cardboard or shingle with snow beneath. Some of the boys played on the chute daily — on the way to school, at noon, and after school. The record indicates that Legion and Lampert employees, as well as the resident across the alley, had repeatedly warned the boys to stay away from the chute and that Lampert employees had at times chased the boys away.

[50]*50Plaintiff Kenneth was seen sliding down the chute on December 20, 1950, at about 12:30 p. m., during the noon hour. The record indicates that he lost his balance when he reached the center of the chute and swirled around striking his head on some of the supports extending above the edge of the slide on the remainder of the descent. Plaintiff Virgil Smith testified that, on examining the chute after being notified of Kenneth’s injuries, he found the top layer of the brick pile scattered and a tuft of hair on one of the bricks. There is nothing in the testimony to indicate that Kenneth had ever been on the chute before the day of the accident or that his father had had any knowledge of the existence of the chute.

The trial court submitted both cases to the jury on the theory of negligence and left it to the jury to determine whether either or both defendants were negligent and whether Kenneth, a boy of approximately ten years of age at the time of the accident, was himself contributorily negligent. The defendants each moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict in each case and such motions were denied. The only questions involved in these appeals are whether there is sufficient evidence to justify the jury’s determination that defendants were guilty of negligence and that such negligence was a proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries, and whether the plaintiff Kenneth was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. The instructions of the court are unchallenged.

The trial court submitted these cases to the jury according to the rule found in Restatement, Torts, § 339, that a possessor of land is liable for injuries to trespassing children where:

“(a) the place where the condition is maintained is one upon which the possessor knows or should know that such children are likely to trespass, and
“(b) the condition is one of which the possessor knows or should know and which he realizes or should realize as involving an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily harm to such children, and
[51]*51“(c) the children because of their youth do not discover the condition or realize the risk involved in intermeddling in it or in coming within the area made dangerous by it, and
“(d) the utility to the possessor of maintaining the condition is slight as compared to the risk to young children involved therein.”

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Bluebook (online)
62 N.W.2d 354, 241 Minn. 46, 1954 Minn. LEXIS 551, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-otto-hendrickson-post-212-american-legion-minn-1954.