Blum v. Weatherford & Cary Bros.

Citations

• 121 La. 298
• 46 So. 317
• 1908 La. LEXIS 672

Syllabus

<p>1. Negligence — Places Attractive to Children — Timbers Across Canal — Liability— Temporary Crossing.</p> <p>The stringers across the canal were not an inviting place for children. The two timbers were not a continuation of a highway, nor did they connect two streets. They were not intended for pedestrians. They were put there to wheel wheelbarrows across the canal.</p> <p>2. Same — Not Inviting.</p> <p>The stringers were above a coffer dam. The end of each stringer was about eight feet below the surface of the bank. There was an “incline” or “approach” from the bank to the end of the timbers below.</p> <p>3. Same — An Incline or “Run.”</p> <p>While in use, defendants had placed a few boards and made a “run” for the wheeling of the wheelbarrows from the bank to the stringers.</p> <p>4. Same — The Boards oe the “Run.”</p> <p>When the defendants left the work they took these planks away. They left the stringers across the canal.</p> <p>5. Same — Some Time Had Elapsed.</p> <p>At the date of the accident they had been away from the work of laying pipes about one month and a half.</p> <p>6. Same — Private Way Over Drain.</p> <p>The crossing was not public. It was not dangerous. The child who met with the fatal accident, aged 4% years, had wandered from her home with a companion about her age.</p> <p>7. Same — Not Liable eor Accident.</p> <p>A person not in any way negligent, not suspecting and without cause to suspect that a child of tender years would leave the playground and attempt to cross on stringers that he placed across a canal, cannot be held liable for damages.</p> <p>8. Same — Boards Across Drains.</p> <p>If the contrary were the rule, then all boards across a small stream, canal, or drain would have to be removed immediately after they have been used, although not intended as a crossing place and not attractive at all as such. The approaches to them did not offer ready access.</p> <p>9. Same — Used Crossing Nearby.</p> <p>There was a crossing nearby made w