81 P. 237 | Or. | 1905
delivered the opinion.
All these are matters of fact for the determination of the jury. The testimony of plaintiff would indicate that the defect was not open and obvious, as she had not observed it prior to the accident; and, as described by her and Mrs. Lewis, it. was latent in character, rather than otherwise. Although Mrs. Lewis had taken note, of it previously, her testimony, to say the least, was susceptible of different inferences in that relation, and was. properly for the jury, and not for the court.
As it pertains to the negligence of the plaintiff, it is said she should not have been tiptoeing and peering about, looking for the girl who had deserted her post, but should have gone around
About the last element, suffice it to say that there was testimony submitted to the jury having a tendency to show that, if the defendant did not have actual knowledge of the defect, he could have known of it' if he had taken proper precautionary measures. The legal principles applicable have been .settled by the decisions of this court, and it is unnecessary that we re-enforce them by further discussion: Wild v. Oregon Short Line Ry. Co. 21 Or. 159 (27 Pac. 954); Johnston v. Oregon Short Line Ry. Co. 23 Or. 94 (31 Pac. 283); Stager v. Troy Laundry Co. 38 Or. 480 (63 Pac. 645, 53 L. R. A. 459); Miller v. Inman, 40 Or. 161 (66 Pac. 713); Duff v. Willamette Iron Works, 45 Or. 479 (78 Pac. 363, 17 Am. Neg. Rep. 121).
■ Another exception was saved to a question propounded to Mrs. Millie Busch, on rebuttal, intended for the impeachment of J. C. Boothby, a witness for defendant, in one phase of his testimony. It was not well taken, however, as the proper ground for the question appears to have been laid.
“I was head girl on the machine. * * It was my duty to see that the girls were all at work. * * He [Eobinson], as a rule, was superintending the whole laundry, and has been all the time.”
On cross-examination she continues:
“I was foreman of the machine. * * I was head lady. * * I was in charge of the whole thing and the six girls. * * My business was to look after the machine, to see that the work yi as done on it, and that the girls were working. * * It was my duty to see that the girls were employed.”
But her control did not extend, as Yve infer, to keeping the machine in order or to supervising its management. That was left to the defendant himself, who retained general supervisory control over his entire laundry business. To say the least, hero Avas matter of inquiry for the jury, and, being such, the instructions Avere not vulnerable to the'objections.
It is also urged here that the defects complained of Avere open and obvious, but this we have found to be also a question for the jury.
“There is no rule of laAV which places a Avoman under any different circumstances than a man, with reference to the dan*546 gers which she may be exposed to in working for an employer. She is subject to the. same rules and conditions, and the same rule of law applies to her that applies to a man. It is her duty to observe and protect herself against dangers which are plainly obvious, or which ought to have been observed and noticed. If she suffers any injury by reason of her failure to observe the dangers which are in sight, she cannot recover.”
As counsel concede, however, the trial court was not bound to give this instruction. It was requested, we gather, on account of the argument of counsel for plaintiff to the jury to the effect that a woman was not as thoughtful as a man, but was controlled and governed more by impulse. There was, however, no testimony in the case upon the subject, and the instruction was not vital to' any question made on the trial.
Finding no error, the judgment of the trial court will be affirmed. Aeeirmeb.