179 A.D. 659 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1917
The action was to recover for personal injuries sustained by reason of the plaintiff’s tripping over a pipe upon the floor of the cellar of a public school building.
The plaintiff was in the employ of the Olin J. Stephens Company, and was engaged in delivering coal at this school building. The coal chute having become clogged, he went into the basement, crossed to the north side of the building, and proceeded west and then south to the coal bins. In this manner he passed around the boilers along a well-lighted passageway. In returning he turned south, and then east, going behind the boilers in a space that was dark, with pipes extending from the boilers to the wall of the building, both upon the floor and suspended from the ceiling, having a clearance of only four feet and eight inches. He either struck his head against these pipes or stumbled over the pipes on the floor, or both, and was injured.
The judgment should be reversed, with costs, the findings of the jury that the defendant negligently maintained the premises and that the plaintiff was free from contributory negligence are reversed, and the complaint dismissed, with costs.
Clarke, P. J., Scott, Dowling and Smith, JJ., concurred.
Judgment and order reversed, with costs, and complaint dismissed, with costs.