Gustafson v. Seattle Traction Co.

Citations

• 28 Wash. 227
• 68 P. 721
• 1902 Wash. LEXIS 478

Syllabus

<p>MASTER AND SERVANT-NEGLIGENCE OB MASTER-SUEEICIENCY OB EVIDENCE.</p> <p>The question of defendant’s negligence is one for the jury, where its superintendent directed a 2,100-pound hammer to be fastened to the top of the gins of a pile driver and then ordered six men to take hold of a rope to let down the gins, which were •movable on an axle, and the plaintiff was injured by being caught by the rope, as it slipped through the hands of his fellow servants; there being evidence that the easy and safe way to lower the gins was by first letting down the hammer, and there being a conflict in the testimony as to the number of men who actually had hold of the rope.</p> <p>SAME INSTRUCTIONS ■ — • MASTER’S DUTY.</p> <p>An instruction upon the duty of the master to provide reasonably safe machinery and appliances is not erroneous when it adds as a duty of the master that he is “not to expose the servant to danger in the performance of his work.”</p> <p>SAME — EXPERT WITNESSES.</p> <p>In an action to recover for injuries received by reason of plaintiff’s being caught and thrown by a rope which he and some fellow servants were directed to take hold of for the purpose of lowering the gins of a pile driver, with a 2,100-pound hammer fastened at the top, where plaintiff had introduced the testimony of his fellow servants that the number of men ordered to take hold of the rope was insufficient to hold it and the defendant had introduced an expert engineer who testified, after making a mathematical calculation, that the superintendent had directed a sufficient force to manage the rope, a charge to the jury that all evidence given as to the opinion of an expert witness should be considered and weighed by them “with caution”; that “when the testimony of the witness entered the domain of opinion, then his testimony should be weighed and considered by you with caution,” was erroneous, on the ground that expert testimony is entitled to be weighed by the same tests as other testimony, a