Metzler v. McKenzie

Citations

• 34 Wash. 470
• 76 P. 114
• 1904 Wash. LEXIS 374

Syllabus

<p>Master and Servant — Safe Place — Pall of Temporary Staging — Construction by Fellow-Servants — Servants Employed to Prepare Place. A carpenter cannot recover for personal injuries caused by the breaking of a defective plank used in the construction of a temporary staging erected by a fellow-carpenter, without any supervision by the employer or his foreman, where the carpenters at work on the building, including the plaintiff, were employed, and it- was customary for them, to erect their own staging, and the employer furnished suitable material for the purpose, and provided competent co-servants, who failed to discover the defect in the plank on inspection, and no one had any notice thereof, since the negligence, if any, was that of a fellow-servant, and the rule as to the master’s liability to furnish a safe place does not apply where the preparation of the place is itself a part of the work which the servants were employed to perform.</p> <p>Same. An order from the foreman to a fellow-carpenter to construct such staging does not constitute him a vice-principal while constructing the same.</p>