2 Hilt. 66 | New York Court of Common Pleas | 1858
This case is distinguishable from Blake v. Ferris, 1 Seld. 48; Pack v. The Mayor, 4 Id. 227; and Kelly v. The Mayor, 1 Kern. 432. In these cases, the corporation was sought to be made responsible for injuries to third persons arising from the negligence, want of skill, or carelessness of the contractors, or those employed under them, while engaged in the prosecution of the work. In this case, however, the injury was the result of drawing the sheath-piling—which the contractor,
As the injury was the result of an act which the defendants,' by their contract, directed to be done, the principle of respondeat superior applies. The contractor, having merely done what he was required to do by the contract, is not the party to be made responsible; but those who directed him to do the act must answer for the damage. As the injury could have been avoided by leaving the piles in, as was done in certain places in the Third avenue, it was inexcusable negligence to require them to be drawn.
Judgment affirmed.