Johnson v. Griffith-Sprague Stevedoring Co.

• Decision Date: 09 January 1907
• Parties: JOHNSON et al. v. GRIFFITH-SPRAGUE STEVEDORING CO.
• Court: Washington Supreme Court

88 P. 193

45 Wash. 278

JOHNSON et al. v. GRIFFITH-SPRAGUE STEVEDORING CO.

Supreme Court of Washington

January 9, 1907

Appeal from Superior Court, King County; Boyd J. Tallman, Judge.

Action by Svandis Johnson, individually and as guardian of minors against the Griffith-Sprague Stevedoring Company. Judgment for plaintiffs. Defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Richard K. Eskridge and Philip Tindall, for appellant.

Graves Palmer & Murphy and J. P. Wall, for respondents.

FULLERTON J.

This action was brought by the respondent on behalf of herself and her minor children to recover damages for the death of her husband, Arni Johnson, whose death she alleges was caused by the negligence of the appellant. Johnson was a longshoreman and at the time of his death was in the employ of the appellant. On the day the accident happened which caused his death, Johnson was assisting in loading steel plates on board a vessel; his duties being to assist in stowing away the plates after they were lowered into the hold. The carriers used to hold the plates while they were being carried from the wharf into the vessel were of two sorts. The first was a chain sling used for carrying such plates as were short enough to pass through the vessel's hatchway while in a horizontal position, or of sufficient rigidity not to double or bend when carried in a perpendicular position. The second was a U-shaped clamp with a set screw in one of its flanges. It was fastened to a plate by placing the end of the plate between the flanges and tightening the set screw with a wrench; the flanges being of sufficient strength so as not to yield to the pressure. The clamp was a comparatively safe device for single plates, as the power applied would force the convex-shaped end of the set screw into the plate a sufficient distance to prevent its slipping. With two plates it was not so secure, as the second one would have nothing to hold it, except friction, heightened by the pressure of the set screw. At the time Johnson met with the accident which resulted in his death, plates 18 feet in length, 3 feet in width, and 3/8 inches thick, each weighing 800 pounds, were being loaded onto the vessel, the clamp being used as the carrier. At first, the plates were carried singly, but later two at a time. After one of such loads had been lowered into the hold of the vessel, it was found that the wrench used to loosen the set screw had been misplaced and search was made for it immediately. Johnson, with others was searching directly underneath the hatchway, when a second load was swung over it, somewhat unexpectedly, as one of the witnesses states. Before these could be steadied sufficiently to permit lowering them, the clamp gave way, letting the plates fall onto the coamings of the hatchway, and...