Palkovitz v. American Sheet & Tin Plate Co.

Citations

• 266 Pa. 176
• 109 A. 789
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 531

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Contributory negligence — Case for jury — Charge—Failure to request instructions — Appeal.</p> <p>1. In an action by an employee against his employer to recover for personal injuries resulting from the breaking of a cotter-pin in the wheel of a truck, the questions of defendant’s negligence and plaintiff’s contributory negligence are for the jury, where the evidence tends to show that defendant owned about two hundred trucks whose axles were held in place by cotter-pins, and that its employees, when occasion arose, could use. any one of them which happened to be idle; that on the day of the accident plaintiff took the truck in question, worked with it for about two hours, in the usual and ordinary way, when the cotter-pin broke, resulting in his injury; that the employees in using these trucks did not make any inspection, and were not supposed to do so; that an employee of defendant was detailed to oil and repair the trucks, but that neither he nor any one else made any inspection thereof; and that the cotter-pin which broke was “old” and “worn thin” “right in the middle......where it broke,” at a point where it could not be seen from the outside.</p> <p>2. Where in such a case the court charges that if plaintiff was “guilty of, or chargeable with, a lack of ordinary care,” or in any negligent manner contributed to his own injury, he could not recover, the defendant on appeal, and after a verdict against him, cannot complain of the inadequacy of the instruction, if the record shows that the trial judge gave an opportunity to defendant’s pounsel to make any further suggestion, if anything had been overlooked, and that counsel replied: “We have nothing to suggest.”</p> <p>Negligence — Release—Evidence—Interpreter—Ignorance of language — Appeals—Statement of questions involved.</p> <p>3. In an accident ease, where plaintiff was so ignorant of the English language that an interpreter had to be used at the trial and in dealing with pl