149 Mo. App. 576 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1910
A scaffold broke down while plaintiff was on it engaged in work for defendant company, letting him fall to a sidewalk below and breaking a bone in his foot, for which injury he was awarded a verdict by the jury. In the conduct of its business in the city of Farmington, defendant uses an office and some sheds on a north and south street. At the time of the accident its office building was being reconstructed and enlarged by mechanics defendant employed by the day, and who were not under the superintendency of any one individual. Defendant’s president,. Tetley, or in his absence, the secretary, Klein, directed the workmen about the job in the way to be stated. The workmen were skilled carpenters and the orders given to them by the officers of defendant were not how to do the work, but general directions about what work defendant wanted done, the materials being furnished by defendant, and whenever material was needed that was not on hand, it would be delivered to the mechanics by commands of one of said officers of the company. Four carpenters were employed on the job the day of the accident, and as Tetley was absent from the office, orders of the character aforesaid about the work were given by Klein, the secretary, from time to tíme. The particular task the men- were performing that day was nailing sheet tin on the outside of the office building, and to enable them to put on the tin toward the top of .the walls, a scaffold had been erected around the building, or three sides of it. The
The judgment in this case was for the right party and will be affirmed.