Wallace v. Spellacy

8 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 41
CourtHarrison County Court of Common Pleas
DecidedJune 15, 1906
StatusPublished

This text of 8 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 41 (Wallace v. Spellacy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Harrison County Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wallace v. Spellacy, 8 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 41 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1906).

Opinion

Shotwbld, J.

Gentlemen of the Jury:

The plaintiff says that on and prior to the 28th day of May, T902, he was in the employ of the defendant as a trestle carpenter in the construction of a railroad trestle and that the defendant was the contractor in the construction of said trestle; that on said date the plaintiff, with a number of other laborers in the employ of 'the defendant, acting under the orders and instructions of defendant, were performing labor in the construc-ton of said trestle; that in the construction thereof it was necessary to lift timbers, of different sizes, a number of feet above the ground and put them in place; that for the purpose of said lifting and placing, the defendant had to use a derrick, operated and used by steam power; that said derrick was located at a point on a level with the highest, point necessary to lift timbers; that in said construction, on account of the length of timbers; and the convenience, the said trestle was erected in divisions corresponding to the stories of a building; that the aforesaid derrick was located on the top of the division they were then erecting, the timbers being lifted immediately in front of the derrick and placed in the proper position by the workmen; that on or about the 28th day of May, aforesaid, the said workmen, of whom plaintiff was one, were working on the first division or story of said trestle, the top of which was about eighteen feet from the ground;, that said trestle was constructed by the placing in position of upright and horizontal timbers, bracing the same a.nd spiking them together; that to do this, in addition to the men working on the ground, the defendant required two of his workmen to perform labor on top of said story or division, one on top of each side of the structure; that said two men were required to work on the most forward part of the structure, being there required to receive and put in place the timbers and fasten the same to that part of the division already erected; that the aforesaid derrick was located immediately behind the said two workmen on top of the trestle; that the boom of said [43]*43derrick ivas so adjusted that when swinging upon the gearing, the end of it described an arc of a circle the radius of which would be about eight feet; that when thus swinging it could, if allowed, swing directly over the aforesaid persons who were working on top of the division in the place where they were required to work by the defendant; that the plaintiff was on the date aforesaid one of the men-working on the top of said trestle; that he was then working under the directions of defendant, as the same were made known to him by defendant’s foreman in charge; that at the time while he was in the place he was ordered to be, and a timber was being lifted and placed in position and when the boom of said derrick was swinging directly over him, but without his knowledge, the eye bolt at the top of the mast in said derrick broke, thus permitting said timber, boom and carrying blocks thereto attached to fall, which they did, with their combined weights upon the plaintiff, the said boom and blocks striking plaintiff across the face and body, all of which occurred without any fault in any way upon the part of the plaintiff.

Plaintiff further says that by reason of his being struck by the said boom and blocks as aforesaid, he sustained the following injuries: a partition bone of his nose was broken and injured so that it was necessary to remove it, which was done, thus resulting in permanent injury to said member and his permanent disfigurement; his right cheek bone was broken loose from its articulations; his, upper jaw bones were broken entirely loose from their articulations and from each other, so- that they are now and have been since said injury entirely useless, having to be supported in place by an artificial apparatus, and injured to such an extent that they can never be restored to their original condition before the injury, or so that they can perform their natural functions; his lower jaw bone was broken in two places and thrust upward, so that it can never be restored to its original position and never properly perform all its natural functions, it being so injured that the point of the same will not now close by about half an inch and never will, thus rendering it impossible for him to chew his food. The bone of his right ear was crushed and his hearing permanently injured; the muscles of the right side of his face are hardened through disease; his hip [44]*44bone was crashed in its upper portion and the nerves injured and the museles paralyzed and destroyed to such an extent that his right leg is permanently injured in that he will never be able to walk properly and naturally and will always be compelled to use a crutch or cane; and that the roof of his mouth or palate bones were broken and partly destroyed and on that account removed, leaving an opening from the mouth upward into the cavity of the nasal passage above.

The plaintiff says that it was the duty of the defendant to furnish him a safe and secure derrick for the purpose of lifting said timbers; to have said derrick in a safe and secure place; to have said derrick free.from defects and sufficiently strong to lift the timbers necessary to construct said trestle; to so lift and place said timbers that the boom of said derrick would not swing over him when he was in the place he had to be, to receive the timbers, and the place he was directed to be in by the defendant, •through his foreman in charge; and to furnish a sufficiently skillful and competent foreman to direct the construction of said trestle in such a manner that plaintiff might perform his labor with safety and security.

Plaintiff says that' he went into the employ of the defendant relying upon the defendant performing the aforesaid duties as he had a right to do, but, notwithstanding the defendant’s duties as aforesaid and in total disregard, thereof, defendant conducted himself so carelessly, unskillfully and negligently that he wrongfully put plaintiff in an unsafe place to work, furnished an unsafe and insecure derrick for the purpose of lifting said timbers, said derrick not being sufficiently strong in any place and the eye-bolt being especially unfit and unsafe from lack of strengm and not fit to lift the necessary timbers to construct said trestle; furnished a defective derrick -in that it did not swing properly from side to side but upon such a twist that such eye-bolt was, upon said date, always in danger of being broken; located said derrick in an unsafe place; required his workmen operating said derrick to so operate it as to swing the boom directly over plaintiff when he was working where he was directed to work and where he had to work to receive the timbers which he had to handle; and put in charge of said work an incompetent and to« [45]*45skillful foreman; that without any fault on plaintiff’s part but wholly on account of the negligence aforesaid on the part of the defendant, a,nd in direct and proximate consequence of the same, plaintiff suffered and received all the injuries aforesaid.

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Bluebook (online)
8 Ohio N.P. (n.s.) 41, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wallace-v-spellacy-ohctcomplharris-1906.