44 Ind. App. 656 | Ind. Ct. App. | 1909
This is an action by appellee to recover damages for a personal injury — the loss of an eye — which is alleged to have been caused by the negligence of appellant. The appellee had a verdict and judgment for $2,000.
The errors assigned are the overruling of appellant’s demurrer to the complaint and overruling its motion for a new trial.
The view which is taken renders it unnecessary to pass on the pleading. The testimony of the appellee is that he was, on September 25, 1906, in the employ of the appellant as a “stove mounter.” He was forty-two years of age. He had worked for the appellant continuously before the accident for eight or nine months. He had had twenty-four or twenty-five years experience as a stove mounter. He was working on a grate for an “oak stove” at the time he was injured. The grate had been moulded the day before, and he took it to put it in and finish the stove. The pieces necessary to make a stove were placed on a shelf. There were two grates on the shelf. He took them off, carried them to the emery-wheel and ground them. After grinding the grates he took them to the foreman and asked if he should use them. The foreman said he wanted the stoves off the floor, and told him to go ahead and use the grates. Appellee thought the grates were in a bad condition, and told the foreman that they were dangerous, and that the pieces were too big to chisel off. He meant by that that they were too big to be taken off in that place, as there was danger of metal flying into his eye. He knew that there was danger in chiseling off the piece. He was injured while knocking a projection off the grate.
The judgment is reversed, with instructions to sustain the motion for a new trial and for further consistent proceedings.