Pullman Palace Car Co. v. Bluhm

• Decision Date: 23 January 1884
• Citation: 1884 WL 9766,50 Am.Rep. 601,109 Ill. 20
• Parties: PULLMAN PALACE CAR COMPANYv.GEORGE G. BLUHM.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

109 Ill. 20

1884 WL 9766 (Ill.)

50 Am.Rep. 601

PULLMAN PALACE CAR COMPANY

v.GEORGE G. BLUHM.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Filed at Ottawa Jan. 23, 1884.

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

APPEAL from the Appellate Court for the First District;--heard in that court on appeal from the Superior Court of Cook county; the Hon. ROLLIN S. WILLIAMSON, Judge, presiding.

This is an appeal from the judgment of the Appellate Court affirming a judgment against appellant for the sum of $3500, rendered in the circuit court in favor of appellee.

The action rests upon allegations by appellee, in his declaration, that being a laborer for appellant, using a defective derrick of appellant in elevating lumber to the upper part of a building of appellant, he was hurt by the falling of the lumber upon him, “maiming, bruising and battering him, and breaking and bruising his arm, and so disabling him that he has been unable to do manual labor from thence hitherto, and remains still in the same condition,” and that the falling of the lumber was caused “by reason of the unskillful and defective workmanship of defendant” in constructing and erecting the derrick, and ““without any fault” upon the part of plaintiff; and in another count, that the injury was the result of “poor material” used in constructing the derrick, and of unskillful construction, and that he used reasonable care, and that the falling lumber broke his arm and shoulder, and otherwise maimed and injured him, and he remained so; and in the third and fourth counts, that the injury done to him was great and permanent. There is no allegation that the injury was caused by the unskillful or negligent mode of using the derrick. The sole complaint against appellant is, that the derrick furnished for use was imperfect and unsafe.

The proofs tend to show that certain employees of the appellant constructed a derrick to be used in raising lumber and materials in the finishing of a house, to the top or upper parts of the house, and that while appellee and others were using the derrick it broke, and the lumber, being raised at the time, by reason of the breaking of the derrick, fell upon the appellee, bruising him and breaking his arm between the shoulder and the elbow; that appellee had surgical and medical attention, but the broken bone failed to unite, and formed what is called, sometimes, a “false joint.” There was evidence tending to show that this failure of the bones to unite is a result which may be permanent, and that this difficulty resulted from want of care in appellee, or from bad surgery, or bad nursing, etc. There was also evidence tending to show that the injury may not be permanent, and that appellee used ordinary care, and employed surgeons, doctors and nurses of ordinary professional skill and care, and that the unfortunate result of the bones not uniting was caused by merely an error in judgment or exceptional negligence in those employed to treat him.

Messrs. ISHAM, LINCOLN, BURRY & RYERSON, for the appellant:

The defendant was not responsible for the false joint, or consequences not the natural and probable result of the original cause of the injury. Schmidt v. Mitchell, 84 Ill. 195; Fent v. Toledo, Peoria and Warsaw Ry. Co. 59 Id. 349; 3 Parsons on Contracts, 179; Toledo, Wabash and Western Ry. Co. v. Muthersbaugh, 71 Ill. 572; Tweed v. Insurance Co. 7 Wall. 44; Phillips v. Dickerson, 85 Ill. 11.

Defendant is not liable for any permanent injury caused by the malpractice of the plaintiff's surgeon. Schmidt v. Mitchell, 84 Ill. 195. See, also, Chicago, Burlington and Quincy R. R. Co. v. Drew, 52 Ill. 451; Chicago and Rock Island R. R. Co. v. McKean, 40 Ill. 241.

Special damages, not necessarily following an injury, must be set out and claimed in the pleadings. Olmstead v. Burke, 25 Ill. 88; Furlong v. Polleys, 30 Maine, 491; Quincy v. Hood, 77 Ill. 68; Horne v. Sullivan, 83 Id. 30; Adams v. Gardner, 78 Id. 568; Miles v. Weston, 60 Id. 361; Baldwin v. Western R. R. Co. 4 Gray, 333; Squier v. Gould, 14 Wend. 159; 1 Chitty's Pleading, 396.

Mr. JOHN LYLE KING, for the appellee:

The verdict of the jury settles the fact that the plaintiff's injury was the result of the accident resulting from defendant's negligence, and is not attributable to the negligence of the plaintiff, either at the time of the accident, or since, in the selection of surgeons to treat him. Stover v. Bluehill, 51 Maine, 439.

The direct or proximate consequences of a wrongful act are those occurring without any intervening, independent cause. Rice v. City of Des Moines, 40 Iowa, 638; Tweed v. Insurance Co. 7 Wall. 44; Scott v. Shephard, 2 Wm. Black, 892; Sauter v. New York Central and Hudson River R. R. Co. 66 N. Y. 50.

For care of himself and care in employing a physician subsequently to a personal injury received from a wrongdoer, the party injured is bound only to the exercise of reasonable and ordinary care. City of La Salle v. Thorndike, 7...