Pariser v. City of New York
| Decision Date | 03 January 1945 |
| Docket Number | No. 69.,69. |
| Parties | PARISER v. CITY OF NEW YORK. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit |
Ignatius M. Wilkinson, Corp. Counsel, of New York City (Herbert B. Lee, of New York City, of counsel), for appellant.
Jacob Rassner, of New York City, for appellee.
Before SWAN, AUGUSTUS N. HAND and FRANK, Circuit Judges.
The plaintiff was a deckhand on the dredge Grabit belonging to the City of New York. On April 27, 1943, when the day's dredging was done and the vessel was moored alongside the 29th Street Pier, North River, orders were given to put hooks on the larger friction wheels to keep the outside dredging bucket suspended for the night. There were two of these wheels or drums — one on the starboard and one on the port side of the covered deck. The engineer Dowding placed a hook on the starboard drum. It was the duty of the plaintiff to place another hook on the spoke of the port drum. The hook weighed about thirty-five pounds, was at the end of a short chain bolted on the deck close to the drum and was fastened to a three-quarter inch rope attached to a post running up from the deck. In placing the hook on the spoke the plaintiff had only to grasp the rope, lift the hook, put it on the spoke, move back away and the job would be done. Then the engineer on his signal would release the steam pressure which held up the bucket and the weight of the bucket suspended outside would slowly bring the spoke up snug against the hook. By this means the hook would lock the drum in position and would prevent the chain which held the bucket from being unwound, and the bucket would be held up out of the water for the night. The plaintiff testified that when he first attempted to place the hook on the spoke of the port drum it "flew off" but he backed out of the way. He then replaced it on the spoke and gave the signal to the engineer to release the steam pressure but, as soon as the steam pressure which held the bucket up was released, there was a quick jerk. He jumped to get out of the way of the wheel and hook, and, as he did this, slipped on the grease which was on the deck where he was standing next the post. The apparent effect of slipping, according to his version, was to throw his left foot into the air so that the driving rod caught it, dragging him over, and thereby caused a fracture of the fourth metatarsal bone of his left foot. He testified that the strain occasioned by the slipping on the greasy deck also produced an inguinal hernia which was something he had never had before. The defendant offered evidence indicating that the plaintiff, after giving the signal, got up on the engine bed and attempted to place the hook on the spoke at a time when the engine was revolving, thus seeking to negative plaintiff's testimony that his injuries arose from slipping on the greasy deck. Which version of the accident was correct was a question for the jury.
According to the plaintiff's story, the second time he placed the hook on the spoke it again slipped off, either because of the jerk occasioned by the too sudden releasing of the steam pressure or because of the grease that had accumulated on the spoke. Whatever caused the hook to slip off, as it fell he says he stepped away, his right foot slipped in the grease on the deck, his back went back and hit the post, and he then slipped still more, went off balance, his left foot went in the air, and as it came down the engine caught it and dragged it in. We cannot say that this could not reasonably have happened.
The plaintiff was instructed by the master of the dredge not to stand or jump on the engine bed and not to put the hook on when the wheel was revolving (fol. 249). He, however, testified that the wheel was not revolving but only rocking when he put the hook on. He evidently understood that this action on his part did not violate the order. His testimony was positive that he did not get up on the engine bed to install the hook. Moreover, the jury might have found that the hook fell off because of...
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