Engelking v. City of Spokane

Citations

• 59 Wash. 446
• 110 P. 25
• 1910 Wash. LEXIS 1222

Syllabus

<p>Master and Servant — Assumption op Risks — Contributory Negligence — Knowledge op Natural Laws — Extraordinary Danger— Evidence — Question por Jury. Common laborers were not guilty of contributory negligence and did not assume the risk, as a matter of law, in attempting to float a raft under a new city bridge to remove the false work, where it appears that they were instructed to construct the raft, to be secured by a two-inch cable to a railroad bridge 200 feet above, and float in down to an end arch of the new bridge, that the raft was carried up and out to the center of the stream by an eddy, and the strength of the current on the cable was sufficient to pull down and submerge the raft with the men upon it, until it could no longer be held; nor can it be said that they had knowledge of and were bound by natural laws, since they were not so obvious as to prompt the instinct of self-preservation, and the dangers were extraordinary and not likely to be appreciated.</p> <p>Same — Negligence op Master — Duty op Superintendence — Extraordinary Hazards. In such a case the extraordinary hazard created by the weight of the raft — 8,000 of 9,000 pounds — the heavy rope, the current of the stream, and the proximity of the falls, placed upon the city an imperative duty of superintendence over common laborers engaged in floating the raft into position under the bridge, for the want of which the city would be liable.</p> <p>Appeal — Review—Instructions—Harmless Error — Master and Servant — Assumption op Risk. An instruction to the effect that a servant assumes ordinary risks, “provided the master has used ordinary diligence to eliminate them” is not necessarily prejudicial where it did not stand alone, and in-a number of other instructions the law of assumption of risk is clearly set forth so that the jury could not have been misled.</p> <p>Municipal Corporations — Streets—Bridges—Liability poe Negligence. The construction of a bridge across a stream is a ministerial rather