74 Neb. 257 | Neb. | 1905
This is an action for damages sustained by the plaintiff in the court below while in the employment of the defendant as a lineman. There was a trial to a jury in the district court, verdict for the plaintiff, judgment on the verdict, and to reverse this judgment defendant brings error to this court.
At the outset of the opinion it is well to say that a careful examination of the proceedings in the court below reveals no reversible error in the conduct of the case, either in the admission and exclusion of evidence, or in the instructions given, if the evidence introduced by the plaintiff, when liberally construed and given the benefit of every reasonable conclusion which logically flows from the facts proved, can be said to be sufficient to show any actionable negligence on defendant’s part, on which the proximate cause of the injury can be predicated.
The record shows that, at the time of the injury, plaintiff was a lineman engaged in putting a cross-arm on the top of one of defendant’s electric light poles, and in stringing and adjusting wires on this cross-arm. For the purpose of climbing and working on defendant’s poles, a lineman is provided with a pair of metallic spurs, or climbers,
Now, conceding everything that the plaintiff’s testimony tends to establish as having been proved, it may be summarized as follows: It is shown that plaintiff received serious injury .while in the line of his duty in the defendant’s employ; that the injury was not occasioned by any fault on plaintiff’s part; that the proximate cause of the injury was the unfastening of the safety belt from the ring-in the main belt, and that this was caused by the spring of the snap coming in contact with the projecting end of the bolt in the cross-arm; and that this bolt projected about half an inch farther than bolts ordinarily used in this work would project. What further deduction can be made from these established facts which tends to sIioav actionable negligence on defendant’s part in the use of these bolts?
It is suggested by counsel for plaintiff beloAV that the record show that the jury, by consent of counsel, Avere permitted to go and view the premises, and from this view of the premises they may have gained information necessarily not imparted to this court in the bill of exceptions. In support of this contention we are cited to our former holding's in Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co. v. Farwell, 59 Neb. 544, and Omaha & R. V. R. Co. v. Walker, 17 Neb. 435. In each of the cases cited the question involved was as to the value of lands taken under condemnation proceedings by the railroad. In cases of this character it is manifest
We therefore conclude that the evidence is not sufficient to sustain the judgment, and we recommend that the judgment of the district court be reversed and the cause remanded.
By the Court: For the reasons given in the above opinion, the judgment of the district court is reversed and the cause remanded.
Reversed,