Johnson v. Irvine Lumber Co.

Citations

• 75 Wash. 539
• 135 P. 217
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1746

Syllabus

<p>Witnesses — Form op Answer. Where a witness started to answer as to what he had been told about the ownership of logs, and upon objection, was asked if he knew, and then answered that they belonged to the defendant, the appellant cannot urge error in the trial court’s interpretation of the answer as a statement on his own knowledge rather than a continuation of the first answer, where appellant did not cross-examine or offer independent evidence.</p> <p>Navigable Waters — Obstructions—Log Jams — Injury to Lands —Persons Liable — Joint Tort Feasors. Where the defendant placed logs in a river without giving them reasonable care, and such failure resulted in forming a jam, commingled with the logs of others, which was not removed within a reasonable time and was the direct and proximate cause of injury to plaintiff’s land, the defendant is liable for the entire damage as a joint tort feasor, as the independent negligence of several concurred in producing the single' injury.</p> <p>Same — Evidence—Presumption. The fact that six hundred out of eight hundred logs forming a jam in a river belonged to the defendant, raises a presumption that the defendant put them in the river and suffered them to be carried by the current; and defendant would be liable for damages without proof of actual knowledge of the jam if it permitted the logs to form an obstruction and remain for an unreasonable length of time.</p> <p>Damages — Excessive Damages — Injuries to Real Estate. Where witnesses estimated damages to land from a log jam which caused the loss of nine acres, at from $4,000 to $10,000, a verdict for $5,000 is not excessive.</p> <p>Appeal- — Review—Harmless Error — Admission of Evidence. In an action for damages to land from a log jam, it is harmless to receive in evidence rules of the war department regulating the driving of logs in the navigable portion of the river, to the effect that drivers shall prevent the formation of jams, where instructions to the jury made the liab