Richardson v. City of Spokane

Citations

• 67 Wash. 621
• 122 P. 330
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 1221

Syllabus

<p>Trial — Verdict—Special Verdict. An answer to a special interrogatory does not require a directed verdict where it did not present the actual issue in the case.</p> <p>Master and Servant — Safe Place to Work — Negligence of Master — Proximate Cause — Evidence-—Sufficiency. Where a concrete man was sent to work in a pocket formed by the wooden forms for a pier and arch, and a peavey used by carpenters’ helpers upon the arch was dropped upon him, crushing his skull, whether the master was guilty of negligence in failing to furnish a safe place to work, and if so, whether the same was the proximate cause of the injury, are questions for the jury, where there was evidence from which the jury might have found that his place for work was at the bottom of a small enclosed pocket 25 feet deep, that the wooden wall for the arch formed an incline on which anything dropped would slide down into the pocket, making the place exceedingly dangerous while men were working on the arch above, that a screen or barrier could have been easily placed to catch falling objects, but none was provided, that no men were at work on the arch when the plaintiff was sent into the pocket, and no warning given that men would be placed there, and that the men sent to work on the arch out of plaintiff’s sight and hearing were using heavy tools and handling timbers, and the master gave the plaintiff no notice of the changed conditions increasing the dangers of the place.</p> <p>Same — Fellow Servants — Concurring Negligence. In such a case, there is no question of the negligence of a fellow servant involved, especially where there was evidence that the peavey did not fall through the negligence of the carpenter’s helper, but through the vibration caused by the work on the arch; concurring negligence of a fellow servant being no defense.</p> <p>Damages — Personal Injuries — Instructions — Expectancy of Life. It is not error to instruct the jury on the measure of damages for personal injuries, to con