McDonald v. Svenson

Citations

• 25 Wash. 441
• 65 P. 789
• 1901 Wash. LEXIS 413

Syllabus

<p>MASTER AND SERVANT-INJURY TO SERVANT-CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE.</p> <p>Where a vessel was moored within two feet of a dock, and no method was provided by the master for reaching the dock from the vessel, other than that afforded by stepping from the pin rail or the mizzen rigging to the dock, a longshoreman who had been working on the vessel for three days and a half, who was injured by being precipitated on a pile between the vessel and the dock, because of the breaking of a ratline in the rigging upon which he had stepped to gain the dock, was not guilty of contributory negligence, because he used that method instead of a gang plank, when it was customary for the master and all the sailors to use the ratlines for .stepping ashore, and the gang plank had never been put out except in a couple of instances for the use of ladies.</p>