Meade v. Roller, 274
| Decision Date | 14 November 1973 |
| Docket Number | No. 274,274 |
| Citation | 212 N.W.2d 426 |
| Parties | Robert J. MEADE, Appellee, v. Robert W. ROLLER, Appellant. |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Arthur O. Leff, Iowa City, for appellant.
Clair E. Hamilton of Meardon, Sueppel, Downer & Hayes, Iowa City, for appellee.
Heard before MOORE, C.J., and MASON, RAWLINGS, UHLENHOPP and McCORMICK, JJ.
Defendant appeals judgment entered for plaintiff in a farm accident case tried to the court. He alleges the issues of negligence, contributory negligence and assumption of risk should have been decided against plaintiff as a matter of law. We affirm the trial court.
Plaintiff Robert J. Meade is a Johnson County farmer who does custom work for other farmers in addition to conducting his own farming operation. Defendant Robert W. Roller employed plaintiff to cut and chop ensilage for him on October 9, 1969. Plaintiff used his own equipment, an 830 Case diesel tractor pulling a chopper and wagon. He knew there were washouts and ditches in defendant's field and asked defendant to point them out so he could avoid them.
Defendant sat on the lefthand fender of the tractor facing the driver's seat. Plaintiff said defendant's feet straddled the power take-off lever which transmits power from the tractor to the chopper through a driveshaft and system of belts and pulleys.
Plantiff testified he had done some chopping when he saw smoke coming from the drive belts. He said he reached down to the power take-off lever and shut it off. He left the tractor running because he said he would have to use its hydraulic system to raise the chopper header to inspect it. He dismounted and viewed the right rear side of the header but was unable to see the cause of stoppage. He said he then returned to the right side of the tractor and used the hydraulic lever to raise the header. There is no connection between that lever and the power take-off lever. After raising the header he examined it from underneath on the right side of the chopper but still saw no reason for the stoppage. Plaintiff testified he then crossed the front of the chopper to get to its left side to check the belts to see if they were warm. As he passed the tractor he observed defendant was still seated on the fender. He said he grasped the belts lightly with his thumb on top and fingers underneath, and just as he did so they started in motion, pulled his right hand into the pulley which works the gear box, and the pulley severed parts of three fingers. He testified he turned around and saw defendant had moved from the fender to the tractor seat.
In his petition, plaintiff alleged that defendant negligently struck or kicked the power take-off lever in moving from the fender to the tractor seat, throwing the chopper into gear so the belts started moving, thus proximately causing plaintiff's injury. Plaintiff offered his own testimony and that of three other witnesses familiar with the operation of the tractor that when the power take-off lever is disengaged the chopper belts have no source of power and will not move.
Trial court found for plaintiff on his theory. Its findings of fact include:
Trial court also found plaintiff was free from contributory negligence and did not assume the risk of injury.
Defendant disputed much of plaintiff's testimony. He denied that he sat astride the power take-off lever, that plaintiff disengaged it before dismounting, that he was still on the fender when plaintiff passed in front of the chopper, and that he knocked the lever in gear. Defendant also offered testimony of a mechanic who said it would take 45 pounds of pressure to put the lever in gear. He also said if the clutch mechanism was defective it might not brake properly when the gear was disengaged, and this could exert enough force on the drive shaft to move the belts. He believed distortion or wear in the clutch discs could lead to the same result. He said on some choppers momentum from the operation of a flywheel on an overriding clutch could exert...
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Rowson v. Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.
...inferences from the evidence a question of fact is engendered); Casey v. Koos, 323 N.W.2d 193, 198 (Iowa 1982) (same); Meade v. Roller, 212 N.W.2d 426, 429 (Iowa 1973) (same). Because Rowson has pleaded that the warnings in question were not effectively communicated such that they would hav......
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...in those cases. See Hunt v. State, 252 N.W.2d 715, 717 (Iowa 1977); Grefe v. Ross, 231 N.W.2d 863, 865 (Iowa 1975); Meade v. Roller, 212 N.W.2d 426, 429 (Iowa 1973). As explained in Universal Camera, supra, the requirement of taking all evidence into account in reviewing administrative find......
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Ehlinger v. State
...Rules of Civil Procedure. We need only consider evidence favorable to appellee whether or not it is contradicted. Meade v. Roller, 212 N.W.2d 426, 429 (Iowa 1973). Negligence, contributory negligence and proximate cause are matters to be determined by the trier of fact and only in exception......
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Jacobson v. Benson Motors, Inc., 55842
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