248 Pa. 598 | Pa. | 1915
Opinion by Mr.
George W. Case, an employee of the defendant company, recovered a verdict for personal injuries; judgment was entered thereon, and the defendant has appealed. V
Case was engaged at work with a number of other men, when a chain furnished by the defendant gave way under a load of between three and four tons, and as a consequence the plaintiff’s right hand was crushed, causing him to lose two fingers. The evidence was sufficient to show that the link which broke had a defect in it which could have been discovered by the exercise of proper care on the part of the defendant; both the defendant’s negligence and the plaintiff’s alleged contributory negligence were issues for the jury, but the question is: was reversible error committed in the course of their submission.
The first assignment complains of the affirmance of one of the plaintiff’s points. The broken link was produced in court, and an expert testified that it had not been properly welded, further, that certain signs on the exterior of the link indicated imperfect welding, and that the real fault would have been fully disclosed by dué inspection arid tests before the time of the accident; on this testimony, the trial judge affirmed a point to the effect that such a fault “as testified by the plaintiff and
Only one remaining assignment calls for special consideration — as to the others, it is sufficient to say that none of them presents reversible error; but before passing to the one assignment which requires discussion, we note that, when the testimony given by the plaintiff’s expert is considered as a whole, it is plain he intended to convey to the jury his opinion that a reasonable examination of the chain, prior to the accident, by a qualified inspector, would have shown the defect which caused the link to break; and the fact that abstracts from this testimony furnished material for an argument that parts of it were to the contrary, can be of no avail to the appellant, particularly when the last words of the witness fully support the contention of the appellee (see Parker v. Matheson Motor Car Co., 241 Pa. 461, 467-8). Moreover, the testimony is perfectly reconcilable — it appears the endeavor of the witness was to convey the thought that certain marks, pointed out
It was proper for the court to tell the jury that the use of a magnifying glass by the plaintiff’s expert was due to his bad eyesight, and to warn them against the notion that the defendant was under an obligation to have its chains examined under such a glass; this is practically all the trial judge did. Again, it was proper for the court to inform the jury that the “inconvenience” which the plaintiff had suffered and would suffer in the future, should be considered by them in estimating the damages (see McLaughlin v. Corry City, 77 Pa. 109-113; Hitz v. Pittsburgh & Butler St. Ry. Co., 245 Pa. 7, 9). Finally, the evidence relied upon to prove loss of earning power and the manner of the submission of that issue to the jury meet our requirements; we have, discussed this subject in several recent cases, and it would serve no useful purpose to go over the ground again at this time (among others, see Bockelcamp v. Lackawanna & Wyoming Valley R. R. Co., 232. Pa. 66, 71; Helmstetter v. Pittsburgh Railways Co., 243 Pa. 422, 426, and cases there cited).
The remaining assignment which requires, attention complains that the trial judge laid down too high a standard of care in affirming one of the plaintiff’s re
The assignments are overruled and the judgment is affirmed.