Gyarmati v. Linde Air Products Co.

• Decision Date: 23 November 1931
• Docket Number: 121
• Citation: Gyarmati v. Linde Air Products Co., 305 Pa. 188, 157 A. 485 (Pa. 1931)
• Parties: Gyarmati v. Linde Air Products Co., Appellant
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

157 A. 485

305 Pa. 188

Gyarmati v. Linde Air Products Co., Appellant

No. 121

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

November 23, 1931

Argued October 1, 1931

Appeal, No. 121, March T., 1931, by defendant, from judgment of C.P. Allegheny Co., April T., 1929, No. 2905, on verdict for plaintiff, in case of Louis Gyarmati v. Linde Air Products Co. Affirmed.

Trespass for personal injuries. Before GARDNER, J.

The opinion of the Supreme Court states the facts.

Verdict and judgment for plaintiff for $10,150. Defendant appealed.

Error assigned, inter alia, was refusal of judgment for defendant n.o.v., quoting record.

The judgment of the court below is affirmed.

Charles F. Patterson, of Patterson, Sherrard & Miller, for appellant.

William A. Challener, with him William A. Challener, Jr., for appellee.

Before FRAZER, C.J., WALLING, SIMPSON, KEPHART, SCHAFFER, MAXEY and DREW, JJ.

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

In this action to recover for injuries received by plaintiff, in an accident claimed to be due to negligence of defendant's employee, plaintiff was awarded a verdict by the jury, and defendant's motions for judgment n.o.v. and for a new trial were refused by the court in banc. Defendant appeals.

Defendant's driver in delivering a load of charged gas tanks, backed its truck into the foundry in which plaintiff was employed. The floor of the factory was the natural earth and on a gradual decline from the street level, the rear wheels of the truck when brought to a stop, being twelve or fourteen inches lower than its front ones. Defendant's driver testified he used the hand brakes to make the truck secure when stopped and as an additional precaution placed a bar of steel weighing 20 pounds against one of the rear wheels. The tanks were unloaded by the driver and an assistant and piled three feet from the rear of the standing truck. Plaintiff and another foundry employee were then detailed by their foreman to assist the truck driver and his helper to reload the truck with empty tanks. They were placing the last container on the machine when it moved backward, catching plaintiff between the truck's rear end and the pile of full tanks, crushing his foot and making necessary amputation of the injured part. The truck and contents, at the time of the accident, together weighed approximately ten tons, which weight, owing to the larger number of tanks loaded, was a ton and a half greater than the original load of...