Ringer v. St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad

Citations

• 85 Kan. 167
• 116 P. 212
• 1911 Kan. LEXIS 31

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>Master and Servant — Contributory Negligence. An experienced section hand was injured while prying against a rail, by the end of his bar slipping where it rested upon an angle iron used as a fulcrum. In an action against the railroad company, based upon the alleged negligence of the defendant in furnishing him an unsafe tool, he testified that he and another hand were directed by their foreman to attempt to line the track, and to hurry up a little as a train was expected; that two bars were immediately available for the purpose, one sharpened in the shape of the letter “V,” the other like a chisel; that previously he had always selected for his own use the former, because it did not slip so badly as the latter; that on the occasion of his injury he picked up one of the bars without noticing which it was, and did not learn until after his injury that it was that with the chisel-shaped end; that its slipping was caused by the point being worn off about half an. inch — a condition that could have been ascertained at a glance. Held, that his use of the bar without any examination whatever, in view of the circumstances stated, amounted to such negligence as to preclude his recovery.</p>