Nordstrom v. Spokane & Inland Empire Railroad

Citations

• 55 Wash. 521
• 104 P. 809
• 1909 Wash. LEXIS 793

Syllabus

<p>Master and Servant — Assumption of Risks' — Obvious Dangers— Knowledge of Consequence. A lineman of ordinary intelligence and six years’ experience, who had previously worked in iron or steel mills, assumes the risk from sawing iron lugs from insulators supporting a trolley wire, whereby iron dust was thrown into his eye, that being a common happening during six days’ work in sawing lugs; and, with knowledge of such danger, he cannot plead ignorance of the fact that the consequence might be the loss of his eye.</p> <p>Same — Safe Place — Anticipation of Danger — Assumption of Risks. Where a lineman, sawing iron lugs from insulators supporting a trolley wire, was injured by iron dust thrown into his eye, the master is not liable for failing to supply a safe place in which to work in that the tower car was not high enough to bring the lineman’s eyes above the lugs and out of danger from flying iron dust, where it appears that, owing to the unevenness of the track, the lineman on the tower would sometimes be above and sometimes below tlie lugs, and the plaintiff worked six days and made no complaint, although dust in the eyes was a common occurrence and the danger was as well known to the servant as to the master; since, in such a case, the servant assumes the risks of obvious dangers respecting the safety of the place, and the master is not liable if the danger is so unlikely to happen that it would not be anticipated by the ordinarily prudent man, whether master or servant.</p> <p>Rudkin, O. J., Fullerton, Gose, and Dunbar, JJ., dissent.</p>