101 S.E. 498 | N.C. | 1919
The plaintiff brought this action against the defendant to recover for a personal injury, alleged to have been sustained while in the employ of the defendant company. He alleged that the defendant was negligent in its duties to him in the following respects: that it failed to furnish him a reasonably safe place to work, and safe tools and appliances with which to work, and failed to give him proper instructions; that the plaintiff was working on the night shift and defendant failed to furnish sufficient lights and allowed chipped wood to accumulate in the walkway between the tubs, which plaintiff was filling with chipped wood, and that the defendant failed to keep the lid on the tub, in which boiling fluids had been poured over the chipped wood with the view of extracting the acids therefrom. Plaintiff alleged that he was injured because the lid was left off the tub, and because chips had accumulated in the walkway, and that it was dark where his work required him to be, because broken lights had not been replaced. He further alleged that he stumbled over the chips accumulated on the walkway, because of the darkness, and fell into the tub, as a result of which his feet and legs were burned, for which alleged injury he claimed that he was damaged in the sum of $3,000.
The defendant answered, denying all the allegations of negligence alleged against it, and denying that the plaintiff was injured because of any act of negligence on its part. The defendant averred that the plaintiff contributed proximately to his own injury; that it was the duty of the plaintiff, and those who worked with him as fellow-servants, to put the chipped wood in the tubs, to level the tub when filled, and to put the lid on the tubs, to clean up the walkway, and if a light bulb was broken, to put in a new one, and that plaintiff failed to exercise due and *125 reasonable care for his own safety; that plaintiff knew all the conditions and dangers incident to the performance of his work, and assumed the risk; that if there was any negligence other than plaintiff's, it was that of his fellow-servants, in the selection of whom the defendant had exercised due care.
Verdict and judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appealed. after stating the relevant facts as above: There was evidence that the approaches to the tub in which the chipped wood was placed for boiling in order to extract the acid therefrom, were not kept open and in a reasonably safe condition, so that defendant's employees could use the same with security to themselves, and that plaintiff, while engaged in his proper work, stumbled over the obstructions in one of these walkways, or aisles, between the rows of tubs, and fell into one of the tubs, the aperture in which should have been closed with the cap, or lid, made to cover it. He received injuries of a serious nature, and now asks for damages to compensate him for them, as he alleges they were caused by the defendant's negligence in not exercising that degree of care which the law requires to make the place reasonably safe for him to work therein, and in not keeping and maintaining it in that condition.
It is unquestionably the duty of the master to use proper care in providing a reasonably safe place where the servant may do his work, and reasonably safe machinery, implements, and so forth, with which to do the work assigned to him (West v. Tanning Co.,
The fault, therefore, with the defendant's prayers for instructions, so far as they related to the negligence of a fellow-servant, is that they omit the necessary qualification as to the liability of the master, when his negligence concurs with that of the servant in the performance of his primary duty, and bases the defendant's right to a verdict solely on the negligence of a fellow-servant. Pigford v. R. R., supra. This question received full consideration in Steele v. Grant, supra, where we said: "It being the duty of the master to provide a reasonably safe place in which to do the particular work assigned to his servant, he cannot interpose as a defense to an action for an injury to the employee the neglect of another servant to perform that duty for him; nor, where the negligence charged against him is the failure to supply a reasonably safe place to work, the master cannot escape liability upon the ground that a particular act of negligence was that of a fellow-servant. The negligence of the latter must be unmixed with his own in order that his plea can be available to him, provided the negligence of the two united and constituted the proximate cause of the injury. These principles are fully sustained in the following cases," citing B. and O. R. Co. v. Baugh,
The charge of the court as to assumption of risk and contributory negligence was plainly correct, and in strict accordance with the precedents. Hicks v. Mfg. Co.,
The testimony regarding subsequent repairs was admissible in corroboration of the evidence of the plaintiff and his witnesses, that the defect in the slide door existed, which was denied by the defendant. The evidence comes clearly within the exception to the general rule of law excluding it for the purpose of showing negligence on the part of the defendant. Tise v. Thomasville,
The charge, taken and considered as a whole, is at least substantially correct, and if defendant wished any special feature to be presented to the jury, it should have requested the court to give proper instructions to that effect. Simmons v. Davenport,
The questions addressed by the court to witnesses were within the privilege of the court, and not improper. There was no expression or intimation of opinion, nor, so far as appears, were they asked in a tone or with such emphasis as would indicate any opinion held by the judge. S. v.Lee,
There was no error in any of the respects assigned by the appellant.
No error.