Berberich v. Louisville Bridge Co.

• Decision Date: 17 June 1898
• Citation: 46 S.W. 691
• Parties: BERBERICH v. LOUISVILLE BRIDGE CO. [1]
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

46 S.W. 691

BERBERICH v. LOUISVILLE BRIDGE CO. ^[1]

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

June 17, 1898

Appeal from circuit court, Jefferson county.

"Not to be officially reported."

Action by Andrew Berberich against the Louisville Bridge Company to recover damages for personal injuries. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

Phelps & Thum, Lieber & Lincoln, and O'Neal, Phelps, Pryor &amp Selligman, for appellant.

Charles H. Gibson, for appellee.

GUFFY J.

The appellant was a bridge carpenter in the employment of the appellee, and on the 19th of March, 1894, he was, as is alleged, ordered to go out upon said bridge, and saw off the extreme ends of the cross-ties, being part of the said bridge structure, and also ordered to save the blocks, and, relying upon defendant's agents and representatives, as was usual and customary, to give him all the proper and timely warning and notice of the approach of danger, and concerning such other matters as might be necessary and proper for the safety and protection of plaintiff, and plaintiff, in obedience to the orders from his said superior, went out upon said bridge and, in order to secure his position as well as possible for the discharge of his duties, he sat down upon and astride of one of the girders or stringers of said bridge structure running parallel with the track and roadway of said bridge and some distance therefrom, and commenced work by sawing the end of two of the cross-ties nearly off, and then he undertook to tie a rope around one of them so as to be able to recover it when it should fall; that while he was engaged in tying the rope around the end of said cross-tie, and while both his hands were engaged in said work, which was requisite and necessary to the performance of his task, and while in the proper discharge of his duty in obedience to the orders of his superior, the defendant aforesaid, without giving the customary signal, warning, or notice to plaintiff of danger or the approach of a railroad locomotive and train of cars upon and over said bridge, and without plaintiff's knowledge of the fact that a railroad locomotive and train of cars was approaching, carelessly and negligently suffered and permitted a railroad locomotive and train of cars to enter upon and pass over said bridge in such close proximity to plaintiff that the jar and vibration of the timbers and other parts of the bridge, especially the girder or stringer upon which plaintiff was sitting, was great enough to and did shake plaintiff, and throw him from his position, and caused plaintiff to fall from said bridge a distance of 60 feet to the hard surface of the earth underneath said bridge; and by the gross negligence and carelessness of defendant...