Reda v. Mayer China Co.

Citations

• 262 Pa. 557
• 106 A. 67
• 1919 Pa. LEXIS 722

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Identity of employer — Evidence — Contributory negligence — Case for jury.</p> <p>1. In an action by a boy against a corporation to'recover damages for personal injuries, where defendant denies that it was the employer of the plaintiff and claims that he was employed by a pieceworker in the company’s employ, who paid the boy’s wages, a verdict and judgment for plaintiff will be sustained where the evidence is in effect that the boy applied to the defendant for employment, that the latter took the boy to a pieceworker known as a jiggerman; that the boy took his place as a helper of the jigger-man who paid him; that this was known to the superintendent; that the company exercised control over the plaintiff’s work; that the tools and material used by plaintiff were owned by the company; and that the superintendent ordered the mill carpenter to make certain steps over which plaintiff tripped causing his injuries.</p> <p>2. In such a case the questions of the defendant’s negligence and plaintiff’s contributory negligence were for the jury, where the evidence was conflicting as to whether or not the machinery was properly guarded, whether the place was a reasonably safe one for plaintiff to work, and whether plaintiff had observed due care in passing along a passageway where he was injured, and placing the steps at a point where he might trip over them.</p>