Aaron v. Missouri & Kansas Telephone Co.

Citations

• 84 Kan. 117
• 114 P. 211
• 1911 Kan. LEXIS 290

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Written Contracts — Construction—Court or Jury. The interpretation of a written contract introduced in evidence is an exclusive function of the trial court; and the relations of the parties, as well as their duties and obligations under the contract, should be determined by the court and embodied in its charge to the jury.</p> <p>2. •-- Duties of Parties to Each Other and Liability to Employees. Where, under a contract, one telephone company places some wires upon the poles of another company, and an employee of the former is killed while stripping the wires of his own company from a defective pole belonging to the other company, the duty of the owning company to the leasing company and its employees in respect to maintaining the-poles in a safe condition for the employees of the leasing-company, and its liabilities for injuries sustained by such employees while working upon the poles, are matters of law for the determination of the court; and to leave the jury to, determine both the law and the facts is reversible error.</p>