Weber Wagon Co. v. Kehl

Citations

• 139 Ill. 644
• 29 N.E. 714

Syllabus

<p>1. Negligence—master and servant—unsafe appliances. Where a workman in a shop is injured while at service, in consequence of the smooth and slippery condition of the floor, which was of hard wood, the fact that the superintendent of the works, or any one else in charge thereof, directed a carpenter to put down a soft wood floor, is a circumstance to be considered by the jury, in connection with other evidence, whether the floor as laid and used was safe or not. Evidence that the floor was changed after the accident is not strictly proper. But when the evidence in chief of such fact is stricken out, leaving the cross-examination, the error is too slight to require a reversal.</p> <p>2. Same—promise of employer to remove the danger—due care, etc.— questions of fact for the jury. Whether the floor that the master has provided for the servant to stand on in front of a machine was in an unsafe and dangerous condition, whether the servant exercised due care, and whether he notified the master’s foreman of the condition of the floor, and was promised by those who had authority to remedy the difficulty that the floor would be made safe, and relying upon such promises he was induced to remain in the master’s employment until he was injured, are all questions of fact for the jury.</p> <p>3. Same—right of servant to rely on promise of employer to remove clanger. If a servant is assured, from time to time, that an unsafe floor will be supplied with a better one, he will have the right to rely on such assurance, and such reliance can not be overcome by a fact or facts which may create a bare suspicion that the change will not be made.</p> <p>4. Same—promise to repair—suspicion the promise will not be kept— instruction thereon. In a suit by a servant against his master to recover for apersona! injury from negligence in fixing a floor in a proper manner for safety, the proof showed the making of three promises to him to change the floor, which tended to prove that plaintiff was