Ball v. Megrath

Citations

• 43 Wash. 107
• 86 P. 382
• 1906 Wash. LEXIS 662

Syllabus

<p>Appeal — Review—Verdicts. Upon a conflict as to a material point, the verdict of the jury, based upon competent evidence sufficient to sustain the game, is binding upon the supreme court on appeal.</p> <p>Master and Servant — Negligence—Evidence—Defective Plan of Work — Fall of Derrick. There is sufficient evidence of negligence upon the part of the master, and the accident was not a mere detail of the work, where it appears that a derrick was tipped over through the negligence and in the presence of a foreman in attempting to move the same while not properly anchored, and under such circumstances that the fall would be a natural result, there not being merely a case of careless handling.</p> <p>Same — Assumption of Risk. A servant engaged in independent work does not assume the risk from a fall of a derrick rendering a safe working place suddenly unsafe without warning, by the setting in motion of a dangerous method of operation by the master’s foreman.</p> <p>Same — Fellow Servants. The defense of negligence of a fellow servant which caused the fall of a heavy derrick, does not apply where the fall was not due to the negligent conduct of fellow workmen, but to carrying out a method of work negligently adopted by the master’s foreman, since as to that duty the foreman is a vice-principal.</p>