Alkire v. Cudahy Packing Co.

Citations

• 83 Kan. 373
• 111 P. 440
• 1910 Kan. LEXIS 538

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Factory Act — Injury to Employee — Violation of Statutory Duty — Proximate Cause of Injury. Under the provisions of section 5 of the factory act (Gen. Stat. 1909, § 4680) liability depends upon whether disobedience of the statute contributed directly to injury or death; and if in any case the failure to provide a statutory safeguard be not superseded by an intervening cause, and consequently is registered in the final event as a contributing cause, liability attaches although some other cause may have intervened and may also have contributed.</p> <p>2. -Purpose of the Statute in Requiring Safeguards. The purpose of the factory act in requiring safeguards for elevators, hoisting shafts and well holes (Gen. Stat. 1909, § 4676) was not merely to keep employees from falling down the ppenings, but was intended to secure them against injury from moving elevators as well.</p> <p>3. -Instructions — Defendant’s Duty Stated in the Language of the Statute. The legislature assumed that juries • are capable of understanding the language of section 1 of the factory act requiring safeguards for elevators and elevator shafts (Gen. Stat. 1909, §4676), and an instruction stating the measure of duty in that respect in the language of the statute is sufficient.</p>