Standard Forgings Co. v. Holmstrom

104 N.E. 872, 58 Ind. App. 306, 1914 Ind. App. LEXIS 187
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 9, 1914
DocketNo. 8,245
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 104 N.E. 872 (Standard Forgings Co. v. Holmstrom) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Standard Forgings Co. v. Holmstrom, 104 N.E. 872, 58 Ind. App. 306, 1914 Ind. App. LEXIS 187 (Ind. Ct. App. 1914).

Opinion

Hottel, J.

Gotfried Wickstrom, deceased, while in tbe employ of appellant, received injuries wbicb resulted in bis death. Appellee administrator brought suit against appellant charging it with negligently causing his death. From a judgment therein in appellee’s favor for $4,000 this appeal is prosecuted.

The overruling of the motion for a new trial is the only error assigned and relied on for reversal.

The facts shown by the complaint and the evidence necessary to an understanding of the questions presented by the [309]*309appeal are in substance as follows: Decedent was employed by appellant to help unload steel billets from a car on the siding near its plant. These billets were elevated out of the ear by means of a crane. Decedent’s work was to help place the billets in piles so that they could be elevated by such crane. Each of such billets would weigh from 500 to 800 pounds, and a crane load would be from 12,000 to 15,000 pounds. After such billets were piled, a chain tackle attached to the crane was placed under either end of the pile and hooked to the rim of the crane, thus making a sling for the load. Decedent and other workmen remained in the car to guide the load while it was being hoisted and to be ready when it left to continue their work in stacking and arranging other piles to be unloaded by the crane. On January 18, 1910, while decedent was engaged in the performance of his duties under such employment he was severely injured, from which injuries- he died six days later. His injuries were' caused by the breaking of the chain tackle letting a load of billets fall against and upon decedent. .Several acts of negligence are charged in the complaint, but those relating to the questions here involved are, the furnishing of a defective chain unsuited for the character of the work and failure to inspect such chain properly.

1. The action of the court in giving, and the refusing to give certain instructions is first discussed by appellant. Instruction No. 4 given at the request of appellee is objected to on the ground that it is contradictory in its statements, and told the jury that (we quote) “a servant does not' assume the risk which arises from the negligence of his employer, and he has a right to believe that the master has performe'd his whole duty as required by law.” It is insisted, that this instruction took from the jury the> consideration of all dangers resulting from the negligence of the master, including those of which the servant had knowledge, either actual or constructive. That part of the instruction just quoted separated from the remainder thereof and stand[310]*310ing alone might be open to appellant’s criticism; but, immediately preceding the language quoted, the jury was told: “It is also incumbent on the plaintiff to prove that his decedent Gotfried Wickstrom did not know of the dangers and risks to which he toas stdbjected by the negUgeni act and omissions of the master as charged in plaintiff’s complaint, and the burden is on the plaintiff to prove these matters by a fair preponderance of the evidence. This rule is called assumption of risk, and it is the law that a servant assumes the ordinary and usual risks of his employment, and ordinary and usual risks are those which are obvious to a person in the exercise of reasonable care. ’ ’ The meaning of the language first quoted, which is objected to by appellant, becomes obvious when considered in connection with that last quoted.

2. 1. Generally speaking, the servant has a right to assume that the master has performed the duty which the law imposes on him in the matter of using reasonable care to furnish him a safe place to work, safe machinery, appliances, etc.; and, the dangers, ordinarily incident to the work of a servant, are not generally regarded as including those resulting from the master’s negligence; because the fact that they are usually and ordinarily incident to such employment of itself carries with it the idea that such dangers are those which ordinary prudence can not provide against, and hence are not the result of negligence. Such dangers are impliedly assumed by the employe’s contract of employment and,, as against them, the employe, where of full age and in the enjoyment of all his faculties, would not be heard to say that he did not know of' their existence; and, while it is true, generally speaking, that the servant also assumes those dangers of which he has knowledge, actual or constructive, even though they be such as result from the master’s negligence, yet, this is so because of his taking employment with such knowledge, or because of his remaining in the employ of his master after he has such [311]*311knowledge, and not because his contract of employment necessarily includes such dangers. On this phase of assumption of risk, if the part of tire instruction already quoted needed anything further to make certain that the burden was on plaintiff to prove that his decedent did not know of the risk which caused his death, it was supplied by the closing paragraph of the instruction which is as follows: “If you find from the evidence that the plaintiff’s decedent knew or by the exercise of reasonable care could have known of the defects, if any, and such defects caused the injury which resulted in decedent’s death then he cannot recover.” The instruction when read in its entirety, as the rules of construction require (Nave v. Flack [1883], 90 Ind. 205, 46 Am. Rep. 205; Joseph E. Lay Co. v. Mendenhall [1913], 54 Ind. App. 342, 102 N. E. 974), shows that it was intended to cover and does cover both elements or phases of assumption of risk just indicated, and was neither contradictory nor prejudicial to appellant. Indeed, the instruction was more favorable to appellant than the law warrants, because it prevented recovery by appellee, if decedent simply knew or might have known of the defects, without reference to his knowledge or appreciation of the dangers that might result from such defects.

3. [312]*3124. [311]*311Complaint is also made of instruction No. 12. The part objected to is as follows: “You can not presume that the next of kin have suffered pecuniary loss because of the death, but the pecuniary loss, if any has been sustained, must be proven; and unless the next of kin for whose use this suit is brought, were in the habit of claiming and receiving pecuniary assistance of the deceased, your verdict should only be for a nominal sum; but if you find from the evidence that said next of kin were in the habit of claiming and receiving pecuniary aid from the deceased, then your verdict should be for the actual money loss that they sustained by reason of his death, provided you find the issues for the plaintiff.” The effect of the objection to this in[312]*312struction is that it told the jury that if it found that the next of kin had been in the habit of claiming and receiving pecuniary aid from the decedent that the finding of this fact aione would require it to return a verdict in appellee’s favor for substantial rather than nominal damages. We are of the opinion that the instruction is subject to the infirmity indicated, as well as others that might be pointed out. This action being for the death of a child brought by the administrator in behalf of certain next of kin, it was proper for appellee to show as a foundation for recovery, not necessarily that such next of kin “had claimed”,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
104 N.E. 872, 58 Ind. App. 306, 1914 Ind. App. LEXIS 187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/standard-forgings-co-v-holmstrom-indctapp-1914.