Wilkinson Cooperative Glass Co. v. Dickinson

73 N.E. 957, 35 Ind. App. 230, 1905 Ind. App. LEXIS 80
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 5, 1905
DocketNo. 5,199
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 73 N.E. 957 (Wilkinson Cooperative Glass Co. v. Dickinson) 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
Wilkinson Cooperative Glass Co. v. Dickinson, 73 N.E. 957, 35 Ind. App. 230, 1905 Ind. App. LEXIS 80 (Ind. Ct. App. 1905).

Opinion

Wiley, J.

Appellant is a corporation engaged in the manufacture of window glass. Appellee was in its employ as a laborer, and bis employment required bim to pack glass in boxes for shipment. It was also bis duty, under bis employment, when the plant was not in -operation, and repairs were being made, to assist in making repairs. Some time after be began bis services witb tbe appellant, a destructive cyclone demolished tbe buildings, and made it necessary to make extensive repairs. Among other repairs to be made were those to tbe furnace in which the .glass was melted. Appellee was engaged witb other workmen in making these repairs, and when so engaged was .injured [232]*232by being struck on tbe hand with a sledge. Appellee and tbe person wbo struck him were engaged in tamping what is designated as tbe “bench” of tbe furnace. Tbe manner of bis injury will be stated later, when considering tbe sufficiency of the evidence to sustain tbe verdict and judgment.

Tbe complaint is in two paragraphs, tbe first of which counts upon a common-law liability, based upon tbe alleged fact that Clark, wbo was handling tbe sledge, and wbo struck appellee’s band, was inexperienced and incompetent in tbe use of the sledge; that appellant knew of said fact, ánd continued him in its service with such knowledge, and that appellee was ignorant thereof. Tbe second paragraph is based upon subdivision two, section one, of tbe employers’ liability act (Acts 1893, p. 294, §7083 Burns 1901), and in this paragraph it is alleged that appellant’s superintendent, to whose order appellee and said Clark were bound to, and did conform, negligently directed them to- do tbe work in a particular manner.

1. Tbe issue was joined by a general denial, and a trial by jury resulting in a verdict for $750 in favor of appellee. Appellant’s motion for a new trial was overruled. While appellant has assigned several errors, tbe only one discussed is tbe overruling of its motion for a new trial. Tbe others are therefore waived. Appellant relies for a reversal upon two propositions, which were assigned as reasons for a new trial: (1) That tbe verdict is not sustained by sufficient evidence, and (2) that tbe court erred in permitting appellee to-amend bis complaint during the progress of tbe trial. We will consider these questions in their inverse order, because if there was error in permitting tbe amendment, tbe judgment would have to be reversed, and in that event it would be wholly unnecessary for us to consider tbe evidence.

2. In tbe original complaint appellee was sued in tbe corporate name of “Wilkinson Cooperative Window Glass Company.” It was discovered during tbe progress of tbe [233]*233cause that its correct corporate name was “Wilkinson Cooperative Glass Company.” Upon discovering the error in designating appellant, counsel for appellee moved for leave to amend the complaint by striking out the word “Window,” and this motion, over appellant’s objection, was sustained. The motion also went to the summons issued in the cause and the answer which had been filed. The summons issued in this behalf was served upon the proper officers of the Wilkinson Cooperative Glass Company. It employed counsel, appeared to the action, and was making its defense. Under the statute providing for amendments to pleadings, and under the repeated decisions upon the question, the trial court has a large discretion in allowing or rejecting amendments, and, unless that discretion is abused, courts of appeal will not review it. §397 Burns 1901, §394 E. S. 1881; Citizens State Bank v. Adams (1883), 91 Ind. 280; McClellan v. Bond (1884), 92 Ind. 424; Burnett v. Milnes (1897), 148 Ind. 230; City of Huntington v. Folk (1900), 154 Ind. 91.

3. The amendment of appellee’s complaint by striking out the word “Window” was an immaterial amendment, and in nowise changed the issues. There is no showing of any character made that appellant was in anywise prejudiced by the amendment, and, this being true, it has no right to complain. Raymond v. Wathen (1895), 142 Ind. 367.

This brings us to the consideration of the question of the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict. As to the manner in which appellee was injured, the evidence is without conflict. Appellee and other employes were engaged in repairing one of appellant’s furnaces. The particular work in which they were engaged at the time appellee was injured was tamping the “bench” of the furnace. The word “bench,” as used in this connection, is described as meaning the “bottom or floor” of the furnace. The bottom or floor is made of “ground fire-clay, mixed with water, of the consistency for tamping with a heavy instrument, [234]*234till it became solid and firm.” The tamping is done by placing a handle in. a heavy block of timber, raising the block by the handle, and forcing it down to the floor, until it becomes solid and level. This can only be done when there is. sufficient room or space to raise and lower the “tamp” perpendicularly. At the extreme edges of the floor, where it comes in contact with the walls of the furnace, this mode of tamping is not practicable, for the reason that the walls of the furnace are concave, or, as one witness describes it, because of the “angle” of the walls. Some other means of tamping that portion of the floor adjacent to the walls had to be devised, and the plan adopted in this instance was as follows: A square block of oak timber was procured. This block was from fourteen to eighteen inches in length, four inches wide and four inches thick. Appellee and one Clark were working together. Appellee would get down on his knees, and place this block on the floor, one end being placed against the wall, while he held the other end with his hand. Clark had a sledge, and with this he would hit or pound the block, and when the floor immediately under it became sufficiently compact, the block would be moved, and the same process continued. Clark was also on his knees while using the sledge. He hit the block with what the witnesses called an “up-and-down” stroke. We gather from this and all the evidence that he did not use a swinging blow, but gave the sledge all the force he could by the “up-and-down” stroke.

Appellee and Clark commenced this work by using a sledge weighing from four to five pounds. While they were thus engaged, Mr. R. R. Faulkner, appellant’s president and general superintendent, went to' the furnace to inspect the work. He said to the -workmen, in substance, that they were not doing the work right; that they “must get that down next to the wall;” that they must strike the block harder, and instructed them to get a heavier sledge. Thereupon Clark procured a ten-pound sledge, and proceeded [235]*235with the work by striking the block with an “up-and-down” stroke. Faulkner told him to strike harder, so as to make the floor adjacent to the wall solid. Clark testified that he was striking as hard blows as he could by the “up-and-down” stroke, and that when Faulkner told him to strike harder he had to use a swinging blow, and in doing so the sledge came in contact with a stone that had been placed on the furnace longitudinally, by which the sledge was diverted, and it came down upon appellee’s hand, several inches from where he intended it should fall. This stone, with others of like character, had been placed in the top of the furnace.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
73 N.E. 957, 35 Ind. App. 230, 1905 Ind. App. LEXIS 80, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilkinson-cooperative-glass-co-v-dickinson-indctapp-1905.