Cox v. Sandler's, Inc.
| Decision Date | 17 February 1956 |
| Docket Number | No. 104,104 |
| Citation | 120 A.2d 674,209 Md. 193 |
| Parties | Carl COX, minor, by Myrtle Lewis, his mother and next friend, v. SANDLER'S, Inc., and Harry Goldberg. |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Joseph H. Colvin, Baltimore, for appellant.
Frederick J. Green, Jr., Baltimore (James J. Lindsay and G. Dudley Iverson, Baltimore, on the brief), for appellees.
Before BRUNE, C. J., and DELAPLAINE, COLLINS, HENDERSON and HAMMOND, JJ.
Carl Cox, minor, by Myrtle Lewis, his mother and next friend, brought this action in tort in the Baltimore City Court against Sandler's, Inc., a furniture company, and Harry Goldberg, its president, to recover for injuries which he sustained on January 14, 1947, in the course of his employment by defendants.
In his declaration filed on December 31, 1949, plaintiff alleged: (1) that he was employed by defendants to work on a part-time basis in and around their furniture store and storage warehouse located on West 36th Street in Baltimore; (2) that defendants were subject to Ordinance No. 578 of the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, approved October 31, 1941, requiring that shafts in storage buildings be enclosed and that hoists be equipped with safety devices; (3) that on January 14, 1947, plaintiff was directed to work in and around an open shaft in which an elevator was designed to be installed, and was given a chain or other hoisting device with which to raise or lower furniture through the shaft from one floor to another; (4) that while furniture was attached to the hoisting device, the device broke causing him to fall to the bottom of the shaft and sustain permanent injuries; (5) that his injuries were caused by the negligence of defendants in that they failed to provide enclosures around the shaft and proper hoisting devices with which to perform his duties, and, unknown to him, they were violating the ordinance; and (6) that his injuries were caused without any negligence on his part contributing thereto.
On February 17, 1950, defendants pleaded: (1) that they did not commit the wrongs alleged; and (2) that plaintiff's injuries arose out of and in the course of his employment by Sandler's, Inc.; that defendants complied with the Workmen's Compensation Act by providing compensation insurance approved by the State Industrial Accident Commission; and that their only liability to plaintiff was for workmen's compensation.
On the same day defendants filed a motion for summary judgment asserting that there was no genuine dispute as to any material fact, and that they were entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The motion was supported by an affidavit, which was made by Goldberg both on his own behalf and as president of Sandler's, Inc., declaring (1) that defendants carried workmen's compensation insurance, which was approved by the State Industrial Accident Commission; (2) that plaintiff's injuries arose out of and in the course of his employment; and (3) that the accident was reported to the compensation insurer as provided by the Workmen's Compensation Act.
On March 2, 1950, plaintiff filed an answer to defendants' motion declaring: (1) that his injuries were caused by defendants' negligence and violation of law; (2) that his remedy is not excluded or governed by the Workmen's Compensation Act; and (3) that there is a genuine dispute as to material facts and defendants are not entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
The Court granted defendants' motion on the ground that the work plaintiff was performing at the time of the accident was extra-hazardous, and accordingly was covered by the Workmen's Compensation Act. In granting the motion the Court said:
'It may well be that part of the plaintiff's employment would not be considered as extra-hazardous, but it seems to me that under the facts, as stated in the declaration and pleadings in this case, the work the plaintiff was performing at the time of the happening of the accident was extra-hazardous, as contemplated by the Workmen's Compensation Act, and that, therefore, the plaintiff's full remedy is under that Act.'
The Court thereupon entered judgment in favor of defendants, and plaintiff appealed from that judgment.
Under our Summary Judgment Rules, a party asserting a claim, or a party against whom a claim is asserted, may at any time make a motion for a summary judgment in his favor as to all or any part of the claim on the ground that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and that he is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. If the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law, summary judgment shall be rendered forthwith. General Rules of Practice and Procedure, part 2, subd. 4, rules 1(a), 4(a); Frush v. Brooks, 204 Md. 315, 104 A.2d 624; Nardo v. Favazza, 206 Md. 122, 110 A.2d 676.
The question presented on this appeal is whether plaintiff's employment was so clearly extra-hazardous that it can be decided as a matter of law that his only remedy is a claim for workmen's compensation.
It was in 1914 that the Legislature of Maryland enacted the measure for compulsory insurance against accident or death of workmen engaged in extra-hazardous employments in this State. Laws 1914, ch. 800. In the preamble of that Act the Legislature declared:
'Whereas, the common law system governing the remedy of workmen against employers for injuries received in extra-hazardous work is inconsistent with modern industrial conditions; and injuries in such work, formerly occasional, have now become frequent and inevitable.
'Now Therefore, The State of Maryland, exercising herein its police and sovereign power declares that all phases of extra-hazardous employments be, and they are hereby withdrawn from private controversy, and sure and certain relief for workmen injured in extra-hazardous employments and their families and dependents are hereby provided for, regardless of questions of fault and to the exclusion of every other remedy, except as provided in this Act.'
In accordance with the State's expresse policy, the Workmen's Compensation Act Code 1951, art. 101, sec. 14, provides:
'Every employer...
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