Barber v. Rich's, Inc.

• Citation: 92 Ga.App. 880,90 S.E.2d 666
• Decision Date: 14 October 1955
• Docket Number: No. 2,No. 35822,35822,2
• Court: United States Court of Appeals (Georgia)
• Parties: L. J. BARBER v. RICH'S, Inc

Page 666

90 S.E.2d 666

92 Ga.App. 880

L. J. BARBER v. RICH'S, Inc.

No. 35822.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 2.

Oct. 14, 1955.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 4, 1955.

Syllabus by the Court.

The trial court did not err in sustaining the demurrer and in dismissing the petition. The plaintiff brought suit in the Superior Court of Fulton County against the defendant, alleging substantially as follows: That the defendant at all times herein was the tenant in possession of warehouse premises located at the corner of McDaniel Street and Stewart Avenue in the City of Atlanta; that said premises consist of a threefloor warehouse building and are under lease to the defendant for a term of years from an owner unknown to the plaintiff but well known to the defendant; that said portion of the building in which the plaintiff was injured was and is under the exclusive possession, custody, occupancy, care and control of the defendant; that said premises contain in the portion of the building occupied by the defendant a freight and personnel elevator which was kept, operated and maintained by the defendant in the dangerous condition hereinafter described; that on November 10, 1954, the plaintiff was a healthy and vigorous male, aged 54 years, and was at the premises of the defendant hereinbefore described to secure a part for a water heater which the plaintiff had been repairing; that the water heater had originally been sold by the defendant and the parts to repair said heater were carried in stock by the defendant at its warehouse; that the defendant from time to time sold said parts to persons such as the plaintiff, who repaired such appliances; that the plaintiff was informed by a servant of the defendant, whose name is unknown to the plaintiff but well known to the defendant, that said water heater part was on an upstairs floor, and was invited by said servant of the defendant to accompany the servant upstairs to secure said part; that on the third floor of said building the plaintiff was shown a water heater containing said part which the plaintiff wished to purchase from the defendant; that another servant of the defendant, whose name is unknown to the plaintiff but well known to the defendant, attempted to remove said part from the heater but was unable to do so; that when informed by the plaintiff that he had a wrench downstairs which could be used to unsecure said part, said servant of the defendant, described in the preceding paragraph, requested the plaintiff to go get said wrench and advised the plaintiff to use a nearby elevator to go downstairs; that said servant of the defendant asked the plaintiff if he knew how to operate said elevator, and after receiving a negative reply from the plaintiff, advised the plaintiff that all he had to do was press the button for the first floor; that the elevator, pointed out by said servant and which the plaintiff entered alone, was an automatic freight and personnel elevator totally within the custody, control, possession and care of the defendant; that said elevator had an inner wooden lattice door which lowered from the top of the elevator straight to the floor and an outer door springloaded and in two sections; that the outer door was so constructed that it was divided horizontally in the middle with a springloaded connection, so that when the door was opened, the bottom half of the metal door disappeared into the floor of the elevator and the top half disappeared into the ceiling of the elevator; that when the top half of the outer door was pulled down from the top of the elevator doorway, the bottom half, which was connected to the top half by a springloaded mechanism, came up from the floor of the elevator with the same force with which the top half came down; that the two halves of the outer door came together completely at the middle of the doorway, and it was in this way that said doorway was closed; that when the plaintiff entered the elevator, he pulled down the inner lattice door without at first noticing an outer door; that the inner door, he observed, came all the way from the ceiling to the floor of said doorway; that after pulling down the inner door the plaintiff pressed the button which indicated the first floor, but the elevator did not move; that upon raising the inner lattice door of the elevator, the plaintiff observed what he thought was the bottom edge of an outer metal door; that having just pulled down the inner wooden lattice door which came all the way down from the ceiling of the elevator, the plaintiff thought that the outer door operated in the same manner; that the plaintiff correctly assumed that the reason the elevator would not respond to the press of the button was because of the outer metal door not being closed; that thinking that the outer door operated in the same manner as the inner door, the plaintiff with his left hand grasped the bottom ledge of the top half of the outer door and pulled firmly and briskly downward; that he did so, and the top half came down, the bottom half came up with the same force and smashed against plaintiff's left wrist mashing the wrist between the two door halves; that there was no sign of any kind in or about the elevator warning persons using said elevator that the outer metal door operated as herein described;...