266 Pa. 176 | Pa. | 1920
Opinion by
Plaintiff, Joe Palkovitz, alleging he had been injured through the negligence of his employer, the American Sheet & Tin Plate Co., sued in trespass and recovered a
On May 4, 1914, Palkovitz was engaged in hauling boxes of tinplate piled upon a four-wheel truck, the latter about three feet long and two feet wide, with steel axles at either end; the wheels were held in place on these axles by what are known as “cotter-pins,” some three and a half inches long. Defendant owned approximately 200 such trucks, and its employees, when occasion arose, could use any one of them which happened to be idle. On the morning of the accident, Palkovitz took the truck in question; he and a fellow employee, named Schuler, worked with it successfully for about two hours, when, with an ordinary load of 15 boxes thereon, Schuler pulling in front and plaintiff pushing behind, in a manner which he testified was necessary and usual under the circumstances, the cotter-pin holding the left-hand rear wheel broke, the wheel came off, and the load fell upon one of plaintiff’s hands, badly injuring it.
The testimony shows that, in using these trucks, defendant’s employees did not make an inspection, and were not supposed to do so, but took any that in a general way appeared fit for use. It also shows that the cotter-pin, the breaking of which caused plaintiff’s injury, was “old” and “worn thin” “right in the middle ......where it broke.”
While defendant’s employees, when handling the trucks, at times took out the cotter-pins for the purpose of greasing the axles, it also appears a man was employed to do such oiling and attend to all necessary repairs. This man stated that neither he nor anyone else made inspections; although, according to his testimony, the cotter-pins were apt to become flat, where they “rubbed against” the wheel, at a point which could not be seen “from the outside,” because, as he explained, “you would have to take the wheel off or take the pin out to see that.”
The point in the case which counsel for defendant most earnestly urges upon our attention concerns an alleged release, executed by plaintiff in favor of defendant company.
On June 15, 1914, Palkovitz put his mark to a typewritten document, by the terms of which, in consideration of the moneys to be paid him by his employer, he released the latter from all claims on account of his injury. He was paid $12 at the execution of this paper, and subsequently received other sums aggregating something over $106. Plaintiff, a Pole, was so ignorant of the English language that an interpreter was used at the trial. It also appears, in defendant’s evidence, that, recognizing plaintiff could neither read, write nor properly understand English, an interpreter was used to explain the document to him at the time the alleged release was executed. This interpreter, a man named
Appellant’s statement of questions involved suggest only two points concerning the matter in hand, and they go, first, to the sufficiency of plaintiff’s evidence to overcome the release, and, next, to certain rulings on the admission of testimony relating thereto; but, nevertheless, defendant’s counsel, in both their oral and written arguments, criticize certain parts of the trial judge’s charge, wherein he deals with this document and the manner in which its effectiveness might be destroyed. Since, however, so far as the binding effect of the release
For the reasons stated, the assignments of error are overruled and the judgment is affirmed.