St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co. v. Baker

163 S.W. 152, 110 Ark. 241, 1913 Ark. LEXIS 445
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedNovember 24, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 163 S.W. 152 (St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co. v. Baker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co. v. Baker, 163 S.W. 152, 110 Ark. 241, 1913 Ark. LEXIS 445 (Ark. 1913).

Opinion

Wood, J.

This is the second appeal in this case. The issues and facts on the first appeal are fully stated in St. Louis, I. M. & S. Ry. Co. v. Baker, 100 Ark. 156. The facts in the present record are substantially the same as they were on the first appeal, except that the present record shows that Yernon testified, in part, on the last trial, as follows:

Our foreman was Mr. Waits. He had instructed us to do the work mechanically. There was no other way to do the work mechanically than by going in on the crane rail and doing the work as we did it. We were to let the-window down with a rope. He went over to the B. & B. shop and got the rope. When I was over there, I saw Mr. Waits. He asked us how we were getting along. I told Mm that we were getting along all right, and that we had to go up on the inside on that crane rail to take the sash out. He wanted to know when we would be back there, and I told him in about twenty minutes. It was sometMng like tMrty minutes before we went back there.

In our opinion on the first appeal, we said: “The uncontradicted evidence shows that Vernon and Baker themselves did not know that it was necessary to occupy the crane tracks in order to repair this window in a mechanical way until they had gone up from the outside and examined the same. It was only after investigation that they themselves determined that it was necessary to go on the inside and stand on the crane tracks while doing the work. This duty, under the uncontroverted evidence, was delegated to them, and when they ascertained that it was necessary to occupy the crane tracks, which placed them in a place of obvious danger while performing their work, they should have notified their foreman, Waits, of that fact, so that he might see that the necessary notice was communicated to the crane operator. The appellant undoubtedly would have been liable had Waits been notified by Vernon and Baker that, in repairing the window, it would be necessary for them to stand on the crane tracks.” And further: “Waits, the foreman of Baker, was not chargeable with knowledge of the manner in which the window should be repaired, and of the place where it was necessary for Vernon and Baker to stand in order to do the work, in the absence of notice from them of these facts, when the very duty of obtaining that knowledge and of communicating the same to Waits was imposed upon them.”

The proximate cause of the death of Baker was the absence of notice to the crane operator that Baker was going to occupy the crane track while engaged in the • work of repairing the window. The appellant contended on the former appeal that the undisputed evidence showed that Vernon and Baker failed to notify the crane operator that it was necessary for them to stand on the crane tracks while repairing the window; that it was Baker’s duty to have done so, and that having failed, he was guilty of contributory negligence, and, likewise, that he assumed the risk. The appellee, on the other hand, contended that it was Waits’ duty to have notified the crane operator that Baker would he on the crane track while the window was being repaired.

The language of the former opinion, above quoted, was used while discussing the issue thus presented. True, the court held that there was no testimony ,to support the appellee’s contention, and sustained the contention of the appellant; but the language of the opinion above quoted was, at least, germane to the discussion of the issues under consideration, and, even if obiter, the doctrine announced was sound.

The testimony of Vernon on the trial tended to establish the fact that Waits received notice that Vernon and Baker would have to stand on the crane tracks in order to do the work Waits had directed them to do, and that he was notified of the time, approximately, when they would be there. Counsel for appellant suggest that a strong suspicion arises that this testimony of Vernon was manufactured to fit the opinion of the Supreme Court. Vernon testified that the reason he did not give such testimony on the former trial was that a question calculated to elicit the information was not asked by counsel on either side. At any rate, he gives anx explanation why the facts shown by his present testimony were not developed at the former hearing, and the jury must have regarded it as a reasonable and truthful explanation, for their verdict shows that they accepted his testimony. It was a matter peculiarly pertaining to the credibility of the witness, and was for the jury to settle. This testimony, then, warranted the jury in finding that appellant’s foreman knew' that Vernon and Baker were going upon the crane tracks in obedience to his order to repair the window. He knew the place where they would stand, and the time when they would be at that place; yet he permitted them to occupy this dangerous position without notifying the crane operator of their presence and peril so that the latter might protect them. This testimony takes the case out of the doctrine of those cases where the master delegates to the servant the duty of making his place of work safe, or where the work itself renders the place unsafe, or where the character of the place for safety is constantly changing as the work progresses as the direct result of the servant’s labor. It is well settled that such instances are exceptions to the general rule making it the duty of the master to furnish a safe place to work,- where the servant, for instance, is employed to wreck or tear down a structure, as an unsafe house or bridge, or is required to handle disabled cars, or to do the work of blasting and excavating in a mine. These are all instances of exceptions. In all such cases, the servant, in entering the employment and performing work devolving upon him, assumes the risks incident to such employment, because they are the hazards ordinarily incident to the character of the work which he undertakes to perform when he enters the service of his master. Appellant cites and relies upon many cases where the above doctrine has been announced by this court, but, under the changed conditions which the testimony of Vernon brought into the case, the court was warranted in submitting to the jury the question as to whether or not the appellant was negligent in failing to furnish its servant, Baker, a safe place in which to do the work that his foreman, Waits, had directed him to do.

Without discussing the instructions in detail, we are of the opinion that there was no reversible error in the charge of the court. The court, on behalf of the appellant, instructed the jury as follows: .

“You are instructed that, even though you should find that witness Vernon informed'foreman Waits that the deceased would be on the crane track in a few minutes, yet, you are instructed that if you believe from the evidence this was done a very short' time before the death of Baker, and if you further believe that, under the circumstances, deceased, as a reasonably prudent man, was not warranted in believing from all the facts and circumstances surrounding him, at the time he entered upon the crane track that the crane operator had been notified of the information which witness Vernon says he imparted to witness Wait, then it was just as much the duty of deceased to have exercised reasonable care in looking and listening for the approach of the crane as if the said Waits had never heard of the intention of deceased to go upon the track.” (No. 3.)

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Bluebook (online)
163 S.W. 152, 110 Ark. 241, 1913 Ark. LEXIS 445, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-louis-iron-mountain-southern-railway-co-v-baker-ark-1913.