183 Ind. 117 | Ind. | 1915
— Appellee recovered a judgment for damages on account of personal injuries sustained-by him while in the service of appellant. The injury to appellee was caused by the falling of a heavy casting which appellee and some of his coemployes were required in the course of their employment, occasionally to lift from its position and remove to a place about two feet distant. This casting was lifted when occasion required, by means of a rope and pulley, the rope being attached to an eyebolt which was screwed into an oil-cup hole in the casting. On the occasion of appellee’s injury, the casting had been lifted by this means and while it was suspended and while appellee was trying to push it over to the place where it was to rest, the eyebolt came out of the oilcup hole and the easting fell and crushed appellee’s hand.. As showing negligence the complaint alleges that the thread on the'eyebolt and the thread in the oilcup
The questions presented on this appeal relate to the actions of the court in overruling appellant’s motion for judgment on the answers to interrogatories notwithstanding the general verdict and in overruling appellant’s motion for a new trial.
1. On behalf of appellant it is claimed that the answers to the interrogatories show that appellee was a skilled machinist and that he relied' on his own judgment in using the eyebolt after he had once.safely used it in lifting-the casting and that he did not use it in reliance of the assurance given him by the superintendent. The interrogatories do show that he had lifted the easting by the use of this eyebolt four or five times before the injury and that after the first time he continued to use it because he had lifted the casting safely the first time; but by interrogatory No. 35, the jury finds that appellee, in using the eyebolt at the time of his injury, did so because he relied on the assurance of the superintendent previously given. If the other interrogatories are to be given the meaning and effect for which appellant contends, they are contradicted and neutralized by interrogatory No. 35 and the general verdict is not affected. Pittsburgh, etc., R. Co. v. Lightheiser (1907), 168
In the case now under consideration, the evidence shows without dispute that appellee was a skilled machinist of long experience and that he knew that the threads on the eye-bolt and in the oileup hole were pipe threads and not standard or screw threads. His knowledge in this respect was equál to that of the night foreman, and, if he knew that such threads were insufficient for the work required, he could not have been misled by an assurance to the contrary. If he had been doubtful or uncertain as to their sufficiency to hold the weight, a different question would be presented. Standard Cement Co. v. Minor (1913), 54 Ind. App. 301, 100 N. E. 767.
By instruction No. 6 the jury was told, in substance, that even if appellee knew that the pipe threads were insufficient to sustain the weight of the casting, he still would not be precluded from a recovery on the ground of assumption of
Note. — Reported in 108 N. E. 232. As to risks assumed by servant, see 52 Am. Rep. 737. As to when an assurance of safety is not conclusive in tbe servant’s favor, see 48 L. R. A. 545. On the effect of master’s assurance as to obvious dangers of employment, see 4 L. R. A. (N. S.) 971. See, also, under (1) 26 Cyc. 1513; 38 Cyc. 1927; (2) 2 Cyc. 701; (3) 26 Cyc. 1503; (4) 38 Cyc. 1811.