Prairie State Loan & Trust Co. v. Doig

Citations

• 70 Ill. 52

Syllabus

<p>1. Negligence—owner of premises not responsible for acts of contractor Timing fall charge of the work. Where the relation of master and servant, does not exist, nor directly that of employer and employee, but the work is let to a principal contractor to do the labor and furnish the materials for the erection of a building, the owner is not responsible for the negligent conduct of the workmen engaged in the use of machinery, or for any other negligence on their part.</p> <p>2. Instruction—giving a construction to witness' testimony. Where the testimony of a witness is equivocal, and may as well be understood one way as in another, it is error for the court, in its instructions, to assume that there is no evidence of a fact which the testimony may tend to prove.</p> <p>3! Thus, in an action against the owner of a lot, to recover for an injury caused hy negligence of the workmen engaged in building a house thereon, where a witness testified that the building was erected for the owner of the lot, who was sued, an instruction to the jury that they were not to presume, in the absence of all evidence on that point, that the building was being put up under a contract with another, was held erroneous, as assuming what the witness meant in his testimony.</p>