194 Mass. 431 | Mass. | 1907
The defendant was engaged in erecting five buildings in Readville. It had as foreman a man named McNeil. McNeil directed one Scott, who was a carpenter, to move a gin pole or derrick from a building which they had finished to the third floor of another building. The gin pole was a stick of timber twenty-two to twenty-five feet long, four by six inches, and was to be used as a derrick for the purpose of hoisting up the floor beams. It had two guys on the back and one or two on the front to hold it in place, and a fall to be used for hoisting, and weighed all together between three and four hundred pounds. There were six or seven men, of whom the plaintiff’s intestate was one, in the gang for moving the pole. 'After giving the direction McNeil went away and Scott proceeded to move the pole, and had got it on to the third floor and substantially into position, and, with the assistance of the plaintiff’s intestate, was in the act of moving the foot a little, when the foot slipped and pushed the plaintiff’s intestate over and he fell one or two stories, receiving injuries which resulted in his death. At the close of the plaintiff’s evidence the judge directed a verdict for the defendant and the case is here on the plaintiff’s exceptions.
We think that the jury would have been warranted in finding that Scott had charge of moving and putting up the pole, not as a workman, but as a superintendent or foreman in the absence of McNeil, with the authority or consent of the defendant. Cashman v. Chase, 156 Mass. 342. Prendible v. Connecti
No harm was done by the exclusion of the questions to the witness McNeil though they might properly have been admitted.
There was nothing to show that Scott did not have all the ropes necessary to move the gin pole, and therefore the general questions relating to the supply of ropes for hoisting purposes were properly excluded.
While the failure of the defendant to comply with the provisions of R. L. c. 104, § 44,
The result is that the exceptions must be overruled.
So ordered.
McNeil was called by the plaintiff, and the questions excluded were “ What were Mr. Scott’s duties in connection with this work which you told
It appeared that the building was a steel frame building, three stories high, that the roof had been at least partially constructed, the roof timbers being laid, and that the carpenters on the day of the accident were engaged in putting in the floor timbers, none of the floors having been laid.
The plaintiff contended that the fact that the defendant acted in violation of law in failing to place and maintain a close plank flooring on the first and second floors before adding the third story to the building as required by R. L. c. 104, § 44, was evidence of negligence which contributed to the injuries sustained by Farrell and should have been submitted to the jury, that the object of the statute is to prevent a workman from falling through floors, and, that it was for the jury to say how much the injuries and subsequent death of Farrell were caused or affected by his falling through the second floor.