Thornton v. Dow

Citations

• 60 Wash. 622
• 111 P. 899
• 1910 Wash. LEXIS 1113

Syllabus

<p>Appeal — Review — Harmless Error— Erroneous Instructions-Cured by Verdict. Tbe failure of a jury to follow, in making a special finding, an erroneous instruction of tbe court is not prejudicial error, where tbe record upon the whole case shows that tbe verdict was right, and no other verdict could have been rendered on proper' instructions.</p> <p>Trial — Findings—Construction—Nuisances. A finding that a railing around a balcony in a public building was a nuisance at the time of the accident, at which time a great crowd was pressing upon it, has the effect of finding that it was a nuisance at the time it was completed, it being in the same condition at both times.</p> <p>Nuisances — Definitions. The general definition of “nuisance”' is comprehensive enough.to include almost all wrongs interfering in any way with personal rights of every kind.</p> <p>Nuisances — Classification—Building. An insufficient balcony rail in a public building does not belong to the class of nuisances embraced within things of a noxious or dangerous kind or dangerous within itself.</p> <p>Nuisance — Insufficient Structure — Liability of Contractor to Public — Causal Connection. There is no causal connection between a spectator at a public entertainment, injured by the giving way of a balcony rail, and the contractor who constructed the railing, which could render the contractor liable for the creation of a nuisance; especially where the contractor was free from negligence and constructed the rail according to plans and specifications.</p> <p>Negligence — Insufficient Structure — Contractors—Liability to Public. A contractor, constructing a balcony railing without plans and specifications therefor, which the contract gave him the right to demand, is not therefore liable for an insufficiency in the railing, where the work was done upon consultation with, and under the direction of, the architect, and the architect testified that the building was completed in every respect according to the s