Sorenson v. Northern Pacific Ry. Co.

163 P. 500, 53 Mont. 268, 1917 Mont. LEXIS 21
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 16, 1917
DocketNo. 3,735
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 163 P. 500 (Sorenson v. Northern Pacific Ry. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sorenson v. Northern Pacific Ry. Co., 163 P. 500, 53 Mont. 268, 1917 Mont. LEXIS 21 (Mo. 1917).

Opinion

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE BRANTLY

delivered the opinion of the court.

Plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for a personal injury suffered by him during the course of his employment as a section-hand. The complaint alleges in substance that while he was in the employ of defendant and under the immediate direction of its foreman, Manuel Pearson, whom he was bound to obey, it became plaintiff’s duty to assist in lifting a heavy rail then lying on the ground near the track of defendant; that the rail was thirty feet in length and weighed about 990 pounds; that it was to be lifted from the ground to and upon a hand-car to a height of approximately three feet; that to lift such a rail requires from six to eight able-bodied strong men; that this fact was well known to the defendant and its foreman, or ought to have been known to them, but was not known to plaintiff; that it was defendant’s duty, in the exercise- of reasonable care, to furnish a sufficient number of men to lift the rail so that plaintiff would not be exposed to danger in the performance of his duty; that defendant failed to perform its duty in this behalf; that knowing that from six to [274]*274eight able-bodied strong men were necessary for that purpose, it furnished only two men beside the plaintiff, to do the work; that this number was insufficient; that the plaintiff had never had any experience in lifting rails; that this fact was known to defendant and that, through the negligence of defendant in failing to furnish enough men and while plaintiff was assisting to lift the rail, he suffered the injury complained of. Defendant’s general demurrer having been overruled, it answered denying the negligence charged and alleging affirmatively that plaintiff assumed the risk. There was issue by reply. The plaintiff had verdict and judgment. The cause is before this court upon appeals from the judgment and an order denying defendant’s motion for a new trial. The principal questions submitted are, whether the complaint discloses upon its face that plaintiff assumed the risk, and whether, if it does, the evidence discloses that he did so. ....

There is a tunnel on the line of defendant’s road to the east of Bozeman, in Gallatin county. In this tunnel and near the portal toward Bozeman a rail in the track had become defective, and it was necessary to replace it with a new one. The plaintiff with two others, a young man of nineteen and an old man of sixty-two years, accompanied by Manuel Pearson, the section foreman, were engaged in doing the work. They had obtained the new rail from rail-posts a short distance to the west and brought it on a hand-car. In loading it on the car they had been assisted by the brother of plaintiff who chanced to be passing. When the new rail had been put in place, it was necessary to remove the defective one in order to clear the track. It was lying near the middle of the track. To load it on the car the foreman, assisted by the plaintiff and one- of the remaining two men, lifted one end of it while the fourth man pushed the car under it. A lift of two and a half feet was necessary in order that the car might have room to pass under: As plaintiff lifted, he felt a sharp pain in his side. Later a swelling, appeared in his groin which, upon examination,, his. physician found to be due to a rupture. Plaintiff was twenty-[275]*275three years, of age. He had been reared up on a farm in Gallatin county and had the experience of the average boy brought up on a farm and inured to such labor as this pursuit requires. He had worked for defendant as a section-hand for three or four months early in 1913. He again entered its service in January, 1914, and continued therein until March 23, 1914, when he was injured. ¥e quote the following excerpts from the testimony of plaintiff which disclose how the work was begun and proceeded until it was completed, and plaintiff’s experience in that kind of work:

“Q. Eeferring to the rail in question, how do you get your information as to the weight and length of this rail?
“A. I inquired of the foreman after the accident.
“Q. Did you know how long this rail was or how much it weighed before the accident occurred?
“A. No, sir, I did not. Two men assisted me in the lifting of the rail, — the foreman and the young Eomeo, nineteen years of age, and the old man. The foreman, Mr. Pearson, had charge and directed this work.
“Q. Did you previous to this accident ever have any experience in lifting rails ?
“A. No, sir, I did not.
“Q. Did you know that an injury of this kind might result to you as the result of lifting the rail ?
“A. No, sir, I did not. * * *
“Q. You knew that was one of the duties of section-hands when you worked there in 1913, to replace defective rails, did you not?
“A. I didn’t replace any defective rails when I worked there before — or broken rails. * # *
“Q. Don’t you know that it was your duty as part of that section gang to replace that rail if you found one — didn’t you know that was your duty ?
“A. I didn’t know that they would try to put it in with the amount of men we had. * * *
[276]*276“Q. Where did you get the new rail at the time you put it into the track?
“A. Outside.
“Q. Outside of the tunnel?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. How far outside of the tunnel ?
“A. About a quarter of a mile or something like that — maybe not that far.
“Q. It was one of the rails that stands upon one of these two rail-posts along the side of the track?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. How did yoii get that rail from the rail-post on the outside of the track, into the tunnel ?
“A. We slid it — we had those kind of — ■
“Q. (Interrupting.) Tongs?
“A. Yes, and kind of zigzagged it back and forth until we got it into the middle of the track and we had a — we had a bar in the middle of the track and it was up on that — I can’t say for sure but I am quite certain that we were trying to lift the rail up. My brother was going up to the depot after some cans and I hollered at him and said, ‘Hey, kid, come over and give us a lift. Come and help us. ’
“Q. Why did you call your brother over .there — he wasn’t working for the company?
“A. I wanted him to give us some help.
“Q. Why did you want him to give you help?
“A. To make it easy for us.
“Q. As I understand now, you first rolled this rail off these rail-posts and then you had these tongs which are something similar to a pair of ice-tongs which clamped on to the top of the rail and had handles to it to pull on. Then you proceeded to pull the rail across from the rail-posts to the track by pulling one end around and then going to the other end and pulling it around a few feet?
“A. Yes, sir.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
163 P. 500, 53 Mont. 268, 1917 Mont. LEXIS 21, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sorenson-v-northern-pacific-ry-co-mont-1917.