Mayers v. Atlantic Refining Co.

Citations

• 254 Pa. 544
• 99 A. 71
• 1916 Pa. LEXIS 765

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Safe place to work — Defective scaffold — Unskilled workman — Fall — Contributory negligence— Case for fury.</p> <p>1. In the absence of evidence to the contrary the presumption is that a scaffold on which an employee is directed by his foreman to work, has been erected by his employer or by some one acting for him for whose negligence the employer is responsible.</p> <p>2. In an action by an employee against his employer to recover damages for personal injuries sustained in consequence of a fall from a scaffold owing to defects therein, the questions of defendant’s negligence and plaintiff’s contributory negligence were for the jury, and the court erred in entering a compulsory nonsuit where there was no evidence as to who erected the scaffold and it appeared that plaintiff ascertained that the scaffold was defective and complained to his foreman of such fact, but was ordered to go back to work upon it, that he thereupon returned to the scaffold and the accident complained of resulted.</p>