181 Mich. 503 | Mich. | 1914
Lead Opinion
Plaintiff was injured while in the act of stepping out of an elevator shaft owned and operated by defendant. The shaft in question was about 9 feet square, built of heavy timbers at the corner, and supported at intervals by planks 2x6, running at right angles to each other in the shape of an X, and fastened to the corner posts. The shaft was about 25 feet in height, and tightly boarded up on its east and west sides, and upon the north and south sides, except for the necessary openings. There is one opening in the shaft on the ground level. The next opening is upon the north side of the shaft about 12 or 15 feet from the ground, and connects with the tramway leading to the ash hopper. There is another opening on the south side of the shaft about 4 feet above the one last described. And at the top of the shaft there are two others, one on each side practically opposite each other. All openings were equipped with automatic gates or bars. The cage operated in this shaft was about 9 feet square, and was boarded up on its east and west sides to the height of 4 or 5 feet. The north and south sides of the cage were not inclosed, as it was necessary to wheel coke and ashes on and off from those directions. On the day of his injury plaintiff, with a fellow workman, left his work on the upper tramways and went to the ground. Desiring to regain the tramway and resume
The sole negligence relied upon by the plaintiff is an alleged breach of statutory duty. Section 12 of Act No. 285, Pub. Acts 1909 (2 How. Stat. [2d Ed.] § 4020), provides:
“It shall be the duty of the owner, agent or lessee of any manufacturing establishment where hoisting shafts- or wellholes are used, to cause the same to be properly inclosed and secured.”
After eliminating all other alleged acts of negligence on the part of the defendant, the court upon this point charged the jury as follows:
“Now, i-n this case, as I have said, the plaintiff claims negligence on the part of the defendant in the
“Now, in this case, if you should find that this plaintiff came to his injury solely by reason of the elevator being started, and that no matter if the shaft had been ceiled up on the inside, or, if you shall find, whether it was properly inclosed or not, if the sole cause of the injury was the starting of the elevator, and if you should find it lacked suitable and proper inclosure, but you should find that the failure to have a suitable inclosure did not contribute to the injury, was not a proximate or concurring cause of the; injury, then the plaintiff could not recover, because, if you find that the sole cause of the injury was the other fellow starting the elevator, that would be a fellow-servant act, and the plaintiff could not recover where the injury would be solely caused by a fellow-servant act. But if you find that the act of a fellow-servant started the elevator, and then you should further find that the elevator was not properly in-cased or inclosed and secured as the statute , says to make it reasonably safe in there, and that the failure
It seems to have been the contention of plaintiff’s counsel that a proper construction of the statute would require the defendant, not only to inclose the elevator shaft, but to line it. Of course it is obvious that, even had the shaft been lined, ■ provision must have been made for the openings, otherwise the shaft would have been useless. No evidence was introduced on the part of the plaintiff tending to show what the term “properly inclosed” meant. Nor was any evidence introduced tending to show that a different method of inclosure than that employed would have rendered the shaft safer in so far as the injury to plaintiff went. The instruction aboye quoted permitted, if it did not invite, the jury to find that the defendant was guilty of a breach of its statutory duty in the absence of any testimony whatever as to what would have constituted a compliance with the statute. It likewise permitted the jury to find, in the absence of,all testimony upon the question, that such breach, if it occurred, was a concurring cause of plaintiff’s injury. The instruction was clearly erroneous. Defendant offered evidence of the deputy State factory inspector as to the customary way of inclosing similar shafts, which testimony was excluded.
It is defendant’s contention that a verdict should have been directed in its favor upon the ground that no negligence had been shown. We have examined this record with care, and are unable to see how a breach of the statutory duty, even if there was one in the respect charged, had anything to do with the accident and injury to plaintiff. The elevator had come
Such being the case, evidence as to what would be á proper inclosure should have been admitted if the character of the inclosure had any causal bearing upon the injury. It is, of course, elementary that even the breach of a statutory duty is not actionable, unless such breach causes injury, either proximately or concurrently.- The breach, if there was one in the case at bar, had no bearing upon the accident.
A verdict should have been directed in favor of defendant. The judgment is reversed, and there will be no new trial.
Concurrence Opinion
I concur in the reversal, but think a new trial should be granted.