Cook v. Chehalis River Lumber Co.

Citations

• 48 Wash. 619
• 94 P. 189
• 1908 Wash. LEXIS 930

Syllabus

<p>Master and Servant — Negligence—Assumption of Risks — Negligent Act of Foreman — Evidence—Sufficiency. An employee does not assume the risk as one incident to the work of constructing a trestle, where it appears that the foreman negligently directed the attachment of a line to a timber in such a position that, upon tightening the line by his orders, planking at the top of a bent of piles was pushed loose and precipitated upon the employee below, who was not aware of the position of the line or given sufficient warning to enable him to reach a place of safety.</p> <p>Same- — Contributory Negligence. In such a ease the employee is not' guilty of contributory negligence in not anticipating the fall of the planking, where the operation was not the ordinary one of raising the timber, but merely to lift it sufficiently to enable the employee to saw it, and the ordinary dangers were increased by the act of the foreman.</p> <p>Same — Fellow Servants — Foreman of Construction Work. In such a case, the foreman having direction of the work of constructing the trestle is n<it a fellow servant of an employee engaged in sawing off the timber, but is a vice principal.</p> <p>Damages — Earning Capacity — Evidence—Admissibility. In an action for injuries to an employee working as a common laborer, evidence is admissible on the subject of his earning capacity as to his wages while working as a gold miner in another state.</p> <p>Damages — Personal Injuries — Excessiveness. A verdict for $1,200 for injury to the knee is not excessive, where eleven months after the injury there was soreness and pain and contraction of muscles preventing the leg from straightening which would require a surgical operation to restore to normal condition.</p>