Kanz v. J. Neils Lumber Co.

• Decision Date: 02 June 1911
• Docket Number: 17,026 - (123)
• Parties: PETER KANZ v. J. NEILS LUMBER COMPANY
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

131 N.W. 643

114 Minn. 466

PETER KANZ v. J. NEILS LUMBER COMPANY

Nos. 17,026 - (123)

Supreme Court of Minnesota

June 2, 1911

Action in the district court for Cass county by the guardian ad litem of Peter Kanz to recover $15,000 for personal injuries. The substance of the pleadings is given in the fifth paragraph of the opinion. The case was tried before McClenahan, J., and a jury which returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff for $13,750. From an order denying defendant's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or for a new trial, it appealed. Affirmed.

SYLLABUS

Dangerous machinery -- duty to servant of independent contractor.

The owner of a mill owes the statutory duty to guard dangerous machinery, not only to his servants, but to a servant of an independent contractor, when such servant is employed in the mill about such dangerous machinery, with the owner's knowledge, and where the independent contractor has no control over such machinery.

Question for the jury.

Whether defendant was negligent in failing to guard the machinery involved in this case was, on the evidence, a question for the jury, and the verdict is sustained by the evidence.

Evidence -- assumption of risk.

It does not conclusively appear from the evidence that plaintiff assumed the risk or was guilty of contributory negligence.

Rulings on admission of evidence.

The trial court did not err in its rulings on the admission of evidence or in its instructions to the jury.

Excessive damages.

The damages awarded are not excessive.

Thomas J. Davis, for appellant.

Charles Loring and Samuel A. Anderson, for respondent.

OPINION

BUNN, J.

Defendant during the year 1908, owned a sawmill at Cass Lake containing the usual machinery for manufacturing lumber from logs. On the extreme south side of the mill were six circular saws thirty-six inches in diameter, set four feet one inch from each other, and used for cutting slabs into lath stock. About seven and one-half feet to the north of these saws stood the edger table, supported on I-beams. To the north of this edger table were located other tables and saws. Under these tables ran a set of conveyor chains, placed about three feet apart. These chains moved across the floor from north to south, and at a point immediately under the south I-beam that supported the edger table turned down through the floor on sprocket wheels which were set on a shaft that ran under the floor. The holes in the floor in which the sproket wheels turned extended out from under the I-beam about four inches. These holes were about four inches wide and ten inches long. The I-beam was about twelve inches above the floor, and rested on blocks at each end. Between this I-beam and the set of saws before mentioned, called the "slasher saws," was a sloping floor, commencing at the point where the sprocket wheels were set, and rising to a point immediately behind the slasher saws. This floor was about nine feet wide, between the I-beam and the saws, and some twenty-two feet in length and was called the "slasher table." On this slasher table another set of conveyor chains moved towards the saws. All the chains moved about half as fast as a man can walk, and material from the various tables which was suitable only for lath stock was thrown on the chains, carried across the mill, under the I-beam of the edger table, and up the slasher table to the slasher saws, where it was cut into four feet one inch lengths and dropped into a conveyor behind the saws, and thence taken to the north side of the mill to be made into laths in the lath mill. This lath mill was on a floor somewhat lower than the main floor of the mill.

In 1908 defendant and one John Kreiling entered into a contract, by which Kreiling agreed to manufacture into lath during the season all material which defendant was desirous of having manufactured into lath, at an agreed price per thousand. The contract provided that defendant should furnish all machinery and supplies, and that Kreiling should do all the millwright work in the lath mill that was necessary to keep the machinery in good running order. It was further provided that Kreiling was to hire a man to attend to the slasher, and that defendant was to pay Kreiling seventeen and one-half cents per hour for the services of such man.

In August, 1908, Kreiling hired plaintiff to attend to the slasher on the night shift. It was his duty to arrange the slabs that were being carried on the conveyor chains up the slasher table to the saws so that the material would make the most lath stock possible. It was necessary for him, in the performance of this duty, to go upon the slasher table while the chains were in motion to straighten out and arrange the slabs as they approached the saws. The space in which he was required to work was twenty-two feet long and seven and one-half feet wide. There was a lever by which the chains could be stopped, if occasion demanded. Plaintiff was provided with a longhandled pick, called a "pickaroon," with which to catch hold of slabs and arrange them so they would strike the saws properly.

On September 3, 1908, after he had been working for about three weeks, plaintiff attempted to straighten a long slab that was approaching the saws by inserting his pickaroon in one end of it for the purpose of jerking it away from the saws. As he...