219 Pa. 145 | Pa. | 1907
Opinion by
The appellee is a moulder and at the time he was injured was in the employ of the appellant. He was smoothing with a stick a sand bed, over which there was suspended, about two feet from it, a flask weighing 4,190 pounds. In smoothing the bed he put his hand and part of his arm under the flask, and, as he was withdrawing his hand, the flask fell, crushing it and causing the injuries for which compensation is sought in this suit. On the trial the court was asked to direct a verdict for the defendant, for the reason that there was no proof of its negligence, and, even if it had been negligent, the plaintiff had voluntarily assumed a known risk and been guilty of contributory negligence. Under all the evidence, the jury might have found for the defendant, but, in view of what was proved by plaintiff and his witnesses, to have directed them to do so would have been palpable error. The learned trial judge could not have affirmed defendant’s sixteenth and seventeenth points or sustained its motion for judgment non obstante veredicto.
On the question of the contributory negligence of the appellee the jury fairly found against the appellant. He had a right to believe that his employer had properly fastened the end of the cable to the crane, and he testifies that, under such a belief, he put his hand under the weight; that in leveling the sand bed under the suspended flask he was doing the work in accordance with the instructions in the shop ; that he was doing it in the manner in which he had been shown that it should be done; that he was doing it in the manner which was customary, not only at that crane, by himself and others, but at other cranes in the foundry; that he did not think he was
In no one of the nineteen assignments complaining of the admission and rejection of evidence, of answers to points, and of portions of the charge, has any error been pointed out. The two questions of fact, the negligence of the appellant and the contributory negligence of the appellee, went to the jury under proper rulings and instructions, and the judgment is affirmed.