Ward v. Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co.

22 Haw. 488, 1915 Haw. LEXIS 59
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 24, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 22 Haw. 488 (Ward v. Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ward v. Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co., 22 Haw. 488, 1915 Haw. LEXIS 59 (haw 1915).

Opinions

OPINION OP THE COURT BY

QUARLES, J.

At the conclusion of the evidence on behalf of the plaintiff (now defendant in error), at the first trial, the circuit court entered judgment of nonsuit, in favor of the defendant (now plaintiff in error), to review which, the plaintiff sued out a writ of error in this court, and the judgment- of nonsuit was reversed. We will here refer to the former decision of this court (ante page 66) as showing the material facts. An examination of the record now before us shows that the evidence is substantially the same so far as the plaintiff’s case is concerned, as at the former hearing. Hpon the return of the case a new trial was had and a verdict for $13,000 damages rendered in behalf of the plaintiff; and, to review the judgment entered thereon, defendant has sued out a writ of error in this court. In the former decision this court held that the contention of the plaintiff that the negligence of the defendant in furnishing a cable which was burred and unsafe was the proximate cause of the injuries, which he sustained, should have been submitted to the jury, on the evidence, under proper instructions. The defendant has assigned a number of errors of law occurring during the progress of the cause, some of which have not been argued, some abandoned, and some of them relied upon for a reversal of the judgment now to be reviewed. The principal contention of the defendant now, is, that the court erred in refusing to give its request for an instructed verdict, basing this contention upon the ground that, under the evidence, the ques[490]*490tion as to the proximate cause of the injury was one of law to be decided by the court, and not a question for the jury. It will thus be seen that the principal question before us is the same, in a different form, as that before us at the former hearing.

After full consideration we are of the opinion that the former decision in this case is correct, under the evidence disclosed in the record, and under the authorities. We therefore adhere to the former decision, and hold that the question of proximate cause was properly submitted to the jury. It is contended, with much earnestness, on behalf of the defendant, that the defective cable described in the former decision, was not of itself, dangerous; that after it came off the pulleys, and the engine was stopped, it was inert, and incapable of injuring the plaintiff,- that it did not injure the plaintiff, and was not the proximate cause of the injury, and, at best, it only furnished the occasion for the plaintiff going to replace the cable on the prdleys. If the cable came off the pulleys by reason of its worn condition, as some of the evidence tends to show, and in doing so had struck the plaintiff and injured' him, it would follow that the use of the cable in such condition was negligence, and the proximate cause of such injury. But, it is the duty of the master to furnish suitable and safe appliances for his servants to conduct his business with, and this duty is not fulfilled by simply furnishing appliances that may be used, but which, owing to their defective condition, are liable to be misplaced and thereby necessarily subjecting the servant to extraordinary risks by replacing them. In other words, the assumption of the ordinary risks of an employment by the servant does not extend to those risks arising from defective machinery or appliances, where, as in the case at bar, the defects are known to the master, and, at the complaint of the servant, he has promised the servant to replace the defective appliance with one that is suitable. The jury were justified in finding from the evidence three facts which are material to the issues in the case, viz., (1) that owing to the burred condition of the cable, strands of wire protruding [491]*491from it from one-sixteenth, to one-quarter of an inch, it had a tendency to climb up on, and run off, the pulleys; and, therefore, was not suitable for the purpose for wbicb it was necessarily used; (2) that the defendant promised tbe plaintiff to replace tbe cable with a new one, and failed to do so; and (3) that defendant’s neglect to replace tbe defective cable with a new one, made it necessary for tbe plaintiff to leave bis usual work and go upon tbe elevated track of the defendant (a height of about 25 feet) thereby incurring an extraordinary hazard wbicb would not have existed if a suitable cable bad been installed. The jury were also justified in finding tbat a man of ordinary care and prudence, under the circumstances, would naturally apprehend that the cable would come off the pulleys; and tbe foreman, Akina, being absent, under such circumstances plaintiff would go and attempt to replace it; that being on an elevated trestle, 25 feet above ground, injury to plaintiff would probably result.

We will notice the principal authorities cited by the defendant to sustain the contention that the defective cable was not the proximate cause of the injury sustained by tbe plaintiff, and that that question should have been decided by tbe court by instructing tbe jury to find for tbe defendant. In tbe case of Carter v. Lockey Piano Case Co., 177 Mass. 91, the court directed a verdict for the defendant upon tbe ground that the injury was • caused by the negligence of a fellow servant of plaintiff while operating an elevator in failing to use a stopping-cable or clamp, there being no negligence of the defendant in failing to supply suitable and safe appliances. In the case of Mo. Pac. Ry. Co. v. Columbia, 65 Kan. 390, the deceased bad worked for the defendant seven years, the last five as fireman on one of its engines; during all that time the defendant bad kept piled on its platform at Langley, where the accident occurred, a pile of grain doors, from eleven to fifteen in number, conspicuously placed from fifteen to twenty-two feet from the track, by which the deceased bad passed about six hundred [492]*492times; along its line tlie defendant, where there were grain elevators, kept piles of grain doors stored near such elevators, and at stations where there were no elevators (such as Langley) kept such doors piled at the station; the accident whereby deceased lost his life was caused by the grain doors being blown off the platform on to the track, by a violent storm, amounting to a gale; no similar accident had ever occurred before on defendant’s road; that the accident would not have occurred but for such storm. These facts were found in a special verdict by the' jury, being submitted to them. The jury also found that the wind storm was not the proximate cause of the accident, but the negligence of the defendant in piling the grain doors on an exposed platform was the proximate cause, and found a general verdict for the plaintiff. There was no evidence to show how long the doors had been on the track prior to the accident, or that any officer or agent of the defendant knew that the doors were on the track. On appeal the special verdict was treated as finding the material facts in favor of the defendant, and the court held that the conclusion of the jury as to the proximate cause of the accident was inconsistent with the facts found,. holding the accident to have been caused by the act of God, one which no reasonably prudent man would have anticipated, set aside the verdict and directed the trial court to enter, in accord with the special verdict of the jury, a judgment in favor of the defendant. In Leavitt v. Ry. Co., 89 Me.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
22 Haw. 488, 1915 Haw. LEXIS 59, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ward-v-inter-island-steam-navigation-co-haw-1915.