83 So. 364 | La. | 1919
Plaintiff appeals from a judgment rejecting his demands for damages on account of personal injuries alleged to have been received through the fault and negligence of defendant. The defense is a general denial, coupled with pleas of contributory negligence and assumed risk.
Plaintiff was employed by- the, Boylan Detective Agency, a private concern, which,, up to July 23, 1917, had furnished the Brooklyn Cooperage Company with day and night watchmen for its building occupying the entire square bounded by Erato, Thalia, South Peters, and South Front streets in the city of New Orleans. About that date, the property was acquired by the defendant herein, who continued the arrangement for guarding the building with the Boylan Detective Agency.
Under his employment, plaintiff was required to report on the premises for duty at 5:30 p. m., and watch the same until 6 a. m., at which hour he was relieved by the day watchman employed by the same agency. His duties required that he pass through the building at regular Intervals, and that he register his presence by sending in signals to a central station.
The building was divided into several rooms or compartments, with doors or openings from one to the other, which were kept closed when not in use by large metal fire doors weighing several hundred pounds each; the idea being that, if fire should break out in one compartment of the building, these doors would prevent its spreading to others. The doors were supported by wheels or rollers attached to the tops, which rested and moved upon a stationary rail or bar fastened to the wall above the opening. The rail or track was not constructed exactly on the (horizontal plane, but dipped or inclined
On July 26, 1917, plaintiff reported for duty at the usual hour, received the keys from the day watchman, and started on his rounds. He went to the door which opened from the wareroom into tire boiler room, and, contrary to custom, found it closed. Taking hold of the edge of the wall or facing with one hand, he endeavored to push the door up and open with the other, when its upper end, in some way, became disengaged from the track or rail, and began to fall forward and toward plaintiff. He attempted to brace or hold it up and off of himself, but, on account of its great weight — some 800 pounds — was unable to do so, and it fell, pinning plaintiff to the floor from above the waist down. There he remained, unable to extricate himself, for about half an hour. Eventually, his cries for help attracted the attention of a passerby, and through the combined efforts of two or three men the door was removed and plaintiff .was taken to the Charity Hospital, where he remained for some two weeks, later being removed to a private sanitarium, and from which he was discharged some time in October.
Plaintiff’s injuries in the region of the lower part of his back were quite serious, the fifth lumbar vertebra having been dislocated or fractured, and other bruises and contusions were received from which he suffered severely. Up to the date of the trial in the court below in April, 1918, he had been able to do very little work, and had earned practically nothing. Plaintiff was 68 years of age and had followed the same or similar employment for a long number of years, and his salary at the time was between ?45 and ?50 per month.
Plaintiff denied having been warned by the day watchman, under instructions from the manager, on the occasions when other doors had been found off the rails, against such rough handling; but we think the affirmative of this contention is fairly established. Still, we do not see how this can affect the matter in view of the circumstances under which he was injured by the particular door in question. We think defendant is convicted of negligence, both in its failure to have the • door in question provided with a proper weight to permit closing normally, and in the act of the engineer, who was instructed to close the door by the manager, in closing it in such a manner as to leave it off the rail, thus forming a trap into, which the plaintiff fell when he attempted to push it open.
It is true that defendant had only acquired the property a few days prior to the accident, but it is not disputed that its legal relation to the matter is the same as would have been that of the Brooklyn Cooperage Company, had the building not been sold.
For the reasons assigned, the judgment appealed from is annulled and reversed, and it is now ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the plaintiff have and recover of the defendant judgment in the full sum of $3,000, with legal interest from judicial demand, and that the defendant pay costs of both courts.