Rogers v. Valk

Citations

• 72 Wash. 579
• 131 P. 231
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1519

Syllabus

<p>Master and Servant — Negligence—Safe Place — Changing Conditions — Tearing Down Buildings — Methods of Work — Question for Jury. Tbe doctrine of safe place to work applies to tbe tearing down of old buildings, where the master does 'not exercise reasonable care, considering the nature of the work, to eliminate unnecessary dangers, or injects unnecessary dangers into the work or place; and his negligence is for the jury, where it appears that his foreman, of thirty years experience, directed an inexperienced man to pull down with a hand line the remnants of a roof upon a floor upon which the man was standing, without making an inspection of the floor, and by a method which caused part of a heavy wall to fall upon the floor, causing it to give way, when the danger could have been obviated by removing the man and using a cable and team ordinarily used for such purposes.</p> <p>Same — Assumption of Risks — Question for Jury. A workman without experience does not assume the risks, and is not guilty of contributory negligence, as a matter of law, in obeying the direct command of the foreman to pull down the remnants of a roof upon a floor upon which he was standing; the floor being supported on three sides by brick walls and also by a chimney, and there being no evidence that there was a safer place for him to stand and do the work; since the added danger was not so open, obvious and imminent that a reasonably prudent man would not have obeyed the order, nor that injury must necessarily result from obedience.</p>