Lang v. Terry
| Decision Date | 01 March 1895 |
| Citation | 163 Mass. 138,39 N.E. 802 |
| Parties | LANG v. TERRY. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Robert Nicholson, after having been qualified to the satisfaction of the court as an expert in the manner of the use of derricks, and the hoisting of timbers particularly on barges similar to the Daisy, the boat on which plaintiff was employed, was asked, on direct examination, "whether or not, having heard the derrick described, a derrick equipped as this was, without a guide rope, is a safe and proper derrick to raise piles of that kind," and answered, "No, sir." Both question and answer were admitted against the defendant's objection, and to this admission the defendant's exception was duly saved. Witness then testified as to what a guide rope consisted of, and that there ought to be a hook attached to it, and that, properly, it ought to be fastened to the hook in the block, when raising a stick of timber like the pile; that the guide rope was to keep the stick from going away from where it ought to go. The same witness was also permitted to testify as follows: Question. "What would be the usual and proper way of attaching a guide rope there?" (referring to the hoisting on the Daisy.) Answer. "To take that hook, and hook right into the block, to keep the boom and fall from swinging too fast after it is raised from its bearing." To which last-quoted question and answer the defendant's objection was duly made, and exception saved.
Cummings & Higginson, for plaintiff.
T.W Proctor, for defendant.
The principal exception saved in this case was to the refusal of the presiding justice to rule that there was no evidence of due care on the part of the plaintiff. At the time of the accident the plaintiff was engaged in the performance of his duty, putting some boards over an iron casting on the deck near the bow of the boat, in accordance with the direction of the captain. He was struck by a swinging pile which was hoisted by a derrick and steam-hoisting engine for the purpose of being transferred from the steam barge to the barge on which he was working. The pile was hoisted and swung around without the use of a guide rope. It appears that he could have seen the pile before it struck him, if he had been looking for it, and he testified that he knew they were going to lift the timber when they got ready, and everybody was out of the way, but he did not suppose they were ready to start when they did. There was evidence that a warning was given him to look out, just as he was struck, but not in time to enable him to avoid the swinging timber. One...
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