80 Ga. 807 | Ga. | 1888
It appears in this case that Sims had been hired by his father to the East & West Railroad Company of Alabama, for the purpose of transferring lumber from its cars to the cars of the Western & Atlantic Railroad Company. It appears that, while engaged in this work, some of the lumber slipped and fell upon the plaintiff and hurt his leg. A verdict was had for the plaintiff; the defendant moved for a new trial, which was refused, and it thereupon excepted.
We think the foregoing charge was error, under the facts of this case. The work which the plaintiff was put to do was not extraordinarily hazardous and dangerous; and it appears that, before his father hired him to the company, both he and his father had been engaged in this kind of work, the father having been for some time in the employment of the company, and the son frequently assisting him in such work; and the company, when it hired the son, had a right to suppose that his father had given him all the instructions necessary to do this work in safety to himself, and that he knew all about the danger attendant thereon. Therefore we do not think the company owed him any duty as to warning him of such danger, no danger being apparent; or as to telling him how to do the work safely, the presumption being that he knew how to do it, under the facts of this case.
The judgment in this case is reversed upon the grounds that the court erred in charging the jury as above set out, and in refusing to grant a new trial.
Judgment reversed.