Tucker v. Palmberg

155 P. 981, 28 Idaho 693, 1916 Ida. LEXIS 33
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 13, 1916
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 155 P. 981 (Tucker v. Palmberg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tucker v. Palmberg, 155 P. 981, 28 Idaho 693, 1916 Ida. LEXIS 33 (Idaho 1916).

Opinion

SULLIVAN, C. J.

This action was brought to recover for personal injuries. The following facts appear from the record:

The respondent, J. W. Tucker, was a steel structural workman, twenty-five years of age, employed by appellants on or about July 23, 1914, in the construction of the Federal Building in the city of Pocatello. In this work he was associated with three other men, who were known as a “steel crew,” whose duty it was to erect and put in plac.e the steel pillars and cross-beams of the building. In the prosecution of this work a derrick with the customary appliances was used. The derrick was operated by a hand windlass. At its top was a clevis, to which was fastened a hook made of inch steel or wrought iron, and the latter, with its attached pulley, is referred to in the record as a “steel block.” The steel crew worked under the direction and supervision of a building superintendent, who hired and discharged the men employed and at times assisted the steel crew in their work. He had general charge of the construction and furnished the appliances used. Between July 23d and August 1st a number of steel pillars and cross-beams had been raised and put in position. On August 1st, when the last cross-beam was being raised, the hook at the top of the derrick straightened out and the beam fell to the floor. At that time no one was injured. A second hook, exactly the same as the one which had given away, was supplied by the superintendent who assisted in attaching it to the derrick. Another attempt was then made to raise the beam. When it had been raised to about the proper height and the respondent, following his usual custom in performing such work, was sitting on the beam and trying to get it in place so that it might be fastened to the upright steel pillars at each end, the hook straightened and the beam together with respondent fell to the floor. By this accident respondent suffered serious and permanent injuries. His complaint prayed for damages in the sum of [699]*699$6,000, which amount was awarded to him by the verdict of the jury. This appeal is from the judgment and from the order denying the motion for a new trial.

Appellants assign as error the action of the court in overruling the motion for nonsuit, the motion for directed verdict and the motion for a new trial; the giving of certain instructions and the refusal to give a number of instructions requested by defendants. It is also contended that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict, and the particulars of such alleged insufficiency are set forth in appellants’ brief.

The complaint alleges that the injuries complained of “were suffered solely by the reason of the negligence of the defendants in failing to exercise due care in supplying or maintaining proper, adequate and secure hooks, hoisting apparatus and instrumentalities for the plaintiff in the performance of the work required of him, and further on account of the defendants’ failure to use due diligence and care in providing the necessary safety appliances for the plaintiff while in the performance of his duty.”

Defendants’ superintendent, C. A. Mattson, testified that he was a civil engineer by profession; that he was familiar with engineering authorities on the strength of hooks, but that he had not ascertained beforehand, and did not know the strength of the hook which he had procured, and from the use of which the injury occurred. The extent of his investigation as to the sufficiency of this appliance for the purpose intended is indicated by the following quotations from his testimony:

“Q. Did you make any inquiry or any effort to ascertain what strength it had, or the weight that could safely be put on the hook ?
“A. I asked them at the time.
“Q. Asked who? .
“A. The Bean people who sold me the block — I don’t know whether it was Bean himself or not.
‘ ‘ Q. And he told you that he did not know ?
“A. He said that he did not know.
[700]*700“Q. Did you ask anybody else?
“A. I don’t think so.
“Q. Did you make any other effort to find out the strength of the hook, and what weight could safely be put on the hook?
“A. I don’t recall. It was sold to me as a heavy steel block.
“Q. You don’t know whether it was safe to put one ton or five tons on it, did you?
“A. Not exactly, no sir.
“Q. It is a round commercial steel block, isn’t it?
“A. It might possibly be soft steel, mild steel, Norwegian iron, or some other thing.
“Q. Did you make any effort to ascertain what it was before you used it?
” A. I bought it for a heavy steel block.
‘ ‘ Q. You relied largely or wholly upon the inquiry that you made of this clerk that you did not know for the strength of the hook which you were purchasing for this work?
“A. That is about the size of it.”

With regard to the theoretical strength of the hook in question, there was a conflict in the testimony. Plaintiff’s expert witness, Yirgil Samms, testified that it was made of wrought iron and not calculated to carry with safety more than one ton. The weight of the beam, under the load of which the hook straightened out, was about 4,500 pounds. On the other hand, F. B. Nielson, an expert forging blacksmith, testified for defendants that in his opinion the hook was made of soft steel and would safely carry a load of three tons. He stated, however, on cross-examination, that in his opinion the hook was not made in the right shape, and that he would not have taken the chance of using it on the same load after a similar hook had straightened out.

From the record in this ease it appears that there was sufficient evidence to be considered by the jury upon the question of the negligence of defendants in failing to furnish reasonably safe appliances for the prosecution of the work. The court committed no error in denying defendants ’ motion for a nonsuit.

[701]*701Appellants’ defense to this action is not only that the appliances furnished for the work were in fact reasonably safe and sufficient for the purpose intended, but that plaintiff himself was guilty of contributory negligence in that, after the first hook gave way, as heretofore described, he immediately thereafter resumed the work of raising the same steel beam with the second hook, which was identically the same as the first; and that, even if appellants were negligent in furnishing the hook which caused the injury, respondent had an equal knowledge of the facts and enjoyed equal opportunity for judging whether the appliance was a safe one to use.

In our opinion, the latter contention is not a correct statement of the law on this question. The obligation of appellants to furnish respondent with reasonably safe appliances was in no way lessened by the accident to the first hook. On the contrary, they were thereby put upon notice to exercise even greater care in the use of an appliance which was identically the same as the one which had just previously proved defective.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

P.N. Cedar, Inc. v. D & G Shake Co.
716 P.2d 1333 (Idaho Court of Appeals, 1986)
Mortensen v. Chevron Chemical Co.
693 P.2d 1038 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1985)
Archer v. Shields Lumber Co.
434 P.2d 79 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1967)
Carson v. Talbot
129 P.2d 901 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1942)
Warner v. Pittsburgh-Idaho Co.
220 P. 492 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1923)
Newport Water Co. v. Kellogg
174 P. 602 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1918)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
155 P. 981, 28 Idaho 693, 1916 Ida. LEXIS 33, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tucker-v-palmberg-idaho-1916.