103 Wis. 337 | Wis. | 1899
While the appellant, not being his employer, did not owe plaintiff’s intestate the special duty of providing a reasonably safe place to work, it did owe the duty of reasonable care in conducting its operations, so far as they might, with reasonable probability, affect others employed on the building; and if it was guilty of negligence which a reasonably prudent person would have foreseen was likely to cause, or aid in causing, the fall of the building, and consequent injury to workmen thereon, it is liable in damages, although other responsible human agencies may have contributed. Where two or more independent causes join to produce an injury, and the origin of each is a responsible one, each author is liable. Cook v. M., St. P. & S. S. M. R. Co. 98 Wis. 624, 642; Slater v. Mersereau, 64 N. Y. 138. Such case is within the rule that joint tort-feasors are all liable and may be sued either jointly or separately. The difficulty with this complaint is that all three of the contractors are
By the Court.— Order of circuit court affirmed.