Killmeyer v. Forged Steel Wheel Co.

Citations

• 243 Pa. 110
• 89 A. 810
• 1914 Pa. LEXIS 584

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Safe place to worle — Contributory negligence — Assumption of rish — Case for jury.</p> <p>1. The duty to provide a reasonably safe place to work and to maintain it in a reasonably safe condition by inspection and repair is a direct, personal and absolute obligation, from which nothing but performance can relieve the employer, and the person to whom it is delegated becomes the vice-principal whose neglect is the neglect of the employer.</p> <p>2. The question of contributory negligence cannot be treated as one of law unless the facts and the inferences to be drawn therefrom are free from doubt. If there he douht as to the facts or inferences, the case is for the jury.</p> <p>3. Where the defense of assumption of risk is set up in an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the case is for the jury where the facts are controverted or where different inferences may be drawn therefrom.</p> <p>4. In an action to recover damages for personal injuries, the case is for the jury and a verdict for the plaintiff will be sustained where it appears that at the time of the accident the plaintiff was employed by the defendant company in a room the floor of which consisted of removable iron plates designed for tbe purpose of affording access to large presses on tbe floor below; that one of these plates four by eight feet in dimension had been removed and the hole left unguarded at the time of the accident; and that plaintiff in ignorance of this condition and while in the discharge of his duties inadvertently walked into the hole and sustained the injuries complained of.</p>