220 Pa. 281 | Pa. | 1908
Opinion by
The judgment in this case must be reversed because of error in affirming the plaintiff’s points. The action was by a skilled
The plaintiff’s points entirely ignored the question of contributory negligence, and their affirmance was in effect an instruction that the case turned on proof of the negligence of the defendant. The error complained of was not harmless, because the instruction as to contributory negligence in the general charge was correct. The answers to these points were the last instructions to the jury, and were in plain contradiction to what had been said in the charge, and we must assume that they were harmful. These points were open to other serious objections, and the defendant’s second point should have been affirmed without qualification. But in the view which we have taken of the case it is unnecessary further to consider them.
Whether a verdict should have been directed for the defendant is a question more involved, but the answer is not less clear. The machine in use was of simple construction. A board four feet high rested on rollers and moved forward and backward under a hot revolving cylinder. It was started and stopped by the use of a treadle, which shifted the belt that extended from the machine to the gearing above it. A rod attached to the board raised and lowered it, and thus regulated the pressure of the cylinder. The upper surface of the board was covered with rubber, over which were placed pieces of felting and muslin. The shirt to be ironed was held by clasps on either side of the board, and a clasp at its head which
The plaintiff had worked in laundries fifteen years, and eight years she had operated a machine for ironing shirt bosoms. She had been employed at the defendant’s laundry fifteen months, and was forewoman of the ironing room. It was part of her work to cover the ironing board with felt and muslin, but on the morning of the day she was injured the superintendent of the laundry had covered the board because she was busy with other work. The covering placed on the board was so thick that the clasp at the top would not catch a narrow neck, band, and in running the machine, whenever she came to a shirt with a narrow band, she placed her left hand on it three or four inches from the top to hold it in place. After she had worked at the machine under these conditions several hours her'fingers were caught under the cylinder.
That the failure of the clasp to catch was due to the thickness of the covering there is no room for doubt under her testimony. She spoke of its not being in proper condition and not working, but she distinctly said that she did not know of any defect in the clasp and that it would have caught in all cases if one piece less of felt had been placed on the board. The defect, then, was not in the clasp but in the manner in which the board was covered. The covering of the board, as before said, was her work and she was at liberty to cover it to suit herself. The defendant could not be held liable for the neglect of the superintendent in covering the board since in so doing, if a vice principal, he was engaged in the work of an ordinary employee and was a fellow servant: Ricks v. Flynn, 196 Pa. 263 ; Miller v. American Bridge Co., 216 Pa. 559. Moreover, the condition that caused danger was apparent and fully understood by her and was under her immediate control. She could have remedied it and removed all danger by taking out a piece of felting.
The two remaining grounds on which it was attempted to
The judgment is reversed and judgment is now entered for the defendant.