Garrison v. Armstrong & Co.

Citations

• 248 Pa. 402
• 94 A. 125
• 1915 Pa. LEXIS 585

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Defective appliances — Assurance of safety — Latent defects — Inspection — Scaffold — House painter — Contributory negligence — Evidence—Case for jury.</p> <p>1. Although a servant assumes all obvious risks incident to his employment, if the work or appliance is imminently or inevitably dangerous, his dependent position will be taken into consideration and if giten positive orders to proceed with his work he is not bound to set up his judgment against that of his superior, but may rely on the assurance of the latter that there is no danger.</p> <p>2. In an action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by a house painter in consequence of a fall from a' scaffold upon which he was working while in defendant’s employ, the ease is for the jury and a verdict for the plaintiff will be sustained where it appeared that the scaffold was erected with ladders, jacks and planks belonging to defendant, as directed by defendant’s foreman in charge; that one of the ladders, the one which subsequently broke, was weather beaten and warped and plaintiff complained of its general appearance to the foreman who assured him of its safety; that while plaintiff and a fellow workman were engaged in painting, a rung of such ladder gave way, causing the scaffold to collapse and precipitate both workmen to the ground.</p> <p>3. In such case evidence of the ambulance driver who arrived on the scene shortly after the accident to the effect that he found the broken rung in a rotten condition, and that he searched for other pieces but found none, is admissible, particularly where plaintiff’s fellow workman stated that there was but one rung lying on the ground and that as far as he knew there were no others, the question as to whether the rung found by the witness was the one which broke and caused the accident being for the jury.</p> <p>4. Where in such case the defendant produced evidence that the ladder had been inspected seven weeks prior to the