Potts v. Fortune

Citations

• 80 Wash. 302
• 141 P. 697
• 1914 Wash. LEXIS 1306

Syllabus

<p>Master and Servant—Fellow Servants—Common Employment. A teamster and his helper are fellow servants, where they were engaged in transferring from another wagon to the plaintiff’s wagon a heavy steel shaft, which fell and injured plaintiff.</p> <p>Master and Servant—Negligence—Question por Jury. Whether a teamster’s helper was guilty of negligence in releasing his hold on the end of a steel shaft without notifying the teamster, is a question for the jury, where there was room for a reasonable difference of opinion.</p> <p>Same — Employment op Incompetent Fellow Servant — Negligence—Evidence—Sufficiency. A master is not negligent in employing a teamster’s helper, where, before hiring him, he inquired of his former employer as to his qualifications and was assured that he was a good man; the employment being simple.</p> <p>Same—Notice of Incompetence. A master is’ not negligent in retaining in his employ a teamster’s helper, engaged in simple work, who was recommended by his former employer, merely on account of notice that he was quick and hasty in his actions, and where, on complaint made, no promise was given that he would be discharged.</p>