Foster v. American Bitumastic Enamel Co.

Citations

• 217 Pa. 144
• 66 A. 331
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 672

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Independent contractor — Slipping on hardened enamel —Shipbuilding.</p> <p>In an action to recover damages for personal injuries it appeared that the defendant company had a contract with the employer of the plaintiff to coat with enamel certain portions of the interior of a large vessel, which was in process of construction. This enamel had to be applied hot, as it cooled and solidified very quickly after being applied. It was heated in a cauldron on the upper deck and lowered in galvanized buckets through an open hatchway. The workman in charge .usually carried two full buckets from the vat to the opening and put one down on the deck while he lowered the other. He testified that the buckets were not in the passageway, but right at the edge of the hatchway, just outside the line of the passageway. He also stated that the buckets were kept in as rapid motion as’possible to get them and their contents to the place of application before the enamel cooled. On the afternoon of the accident plaintiff found it necessary to leave his work and go ashore. He took two or three steps along the passageway, when he slipped and fell, and in the act of falling his arm was thrust into the bucket of hot enamel, injuring him seriously. He alleged that he slipped on a piece of enamel about as large as a saucer which had fallen on the surface of the deck and solidified. There was no evidence whatever to show how or by whom, the° enamel had been spilled on the deck, nor how long it had been there. 'Held, that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the charge of negligence against tho defendant.</p>