Savage v. Union Electric Light & Power Co.

• Decision Date: 16 July 1935
• Docket Number: No. 23120.,23120.
• Citation: 86 S.W.2d 97
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals
• Parties: SAVAGE v. UNION ELECTRIC LIGHT & POWER CO.

86 S.W.2d 97

SAVAGE v. UNION ELECTRIC LIGHT & POWER CO.

No. 23120.

St. Louis Court of Appeals. Missouri.

July 16, 1935.

Appellant's Motion for Modification of Opinion Overruled October 16, 1935.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court; Wilson A. Taylor, Judge.

"Not to be published in State Reports."

Suit by Lottie Savage against the Union Electric Light & Power Company. From a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant appeals.

Reversed and remanded.

Theodore Rassieur, George M. Rassieur, Thomas Bond, and David H. Robertson, all of St. Louis, for appellant.

Cullen, Fauntleroy & Edwards, of St. Louis, for respondent.

HOSTETTER, Presiding Judge.

This suit was begun on the 18th of March, 1932, by the filing of a petition in the circuit court of the city of St. Louis. The amended petition was in substance as follows:

That plaintiff on November 27, 1931, and for a long time prior thereto, was employed in a building numbered 815 to 821, inclusive, on Washington avenue, in St. Louis city, and that her duties included the operation of a freight elevator and answering such complaints as the tenants of the building made and adjusting such difficulties for them as it was within her power so to do; that the light, heat, and power for said building was furnished by the defendant; that long prior to November 27, 1931, defendant had installed steam meters in the basement of said building for the purpose of furnishing heat to said building, and valves and levers for the purpose of controlling and directing the heat; that a narrow passageway in the basement led to the said steam meters, valves, and levers from the entrance to that portion of the basement in which the heating apparatus was installed; that on November 25, 1931, defendant installed a new steam meter and removed one which had been previously placed there by it; that all of said apparatus was owned and controlled by defendant; that unbeknowns to plaintiff, defendant, after having removed from the connections in the basement the steam meter previously used, negligently failed to take it from the building and negligently left it in the center of the narrow passageway and negligently turned off the heat from the eastern portion of the building and negligently unscrewed from the socket and left so unscrewed the only light in the narrow passageway which would furnish light to that portion of the passageway leading to the steam meters and apparatus aforesaid; that the following day being Thanksgiving Day, she and others in the building were not on duty that day; that on Friday morning, November 27, 1931, tenants in the eastern part of the building (815-817) complained to her that there was no heat in that portion of the building; that it was her duty as an employee of the owner of the building to satisfy complaints of tenants; that having received complaints about the eastern part of the building being without heat, she went to the narrow passageway, and, when she turned on the switch for the lights, found that the light for the passageway did not burn; that, not knowing that the light had been loosened in the socket and that a meter had been left in the center of the passageway, and being desirous of turning on a lever or valve in order that the tenants in the eastern part of the building might have heat, she proceeded eastwardly in the passageway to turn on the light near the eastern end of the passageway, and then turn on the heat for the eastern portion of the building; that proceeding carefully in said dark passageway for that purpose she walked into the steam meter which had negligently been left in the center of the passageway and in the dark fell to the floor of said passageway, whereby she was injured, for which she asked damages in the sum of $15,000.

The answer to the amended petition was a general denial, coupled with a plea of contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff, in that she carelessly and negligently attempted without any light to walk in the dark across the floor of the boiler room which she knew or with ordinary care ought to have known was rough and uneven, containing ledges, excavations, pitfalls, and covered with débris, bricks, rubbish, and obstructed with pipes and other obstructions for which defendant was not responsible, and which she knew, or ought to have known, would be dangerous so to do, and that whatever injuries she received were the result of her said carelessness and negligence directly contributing thereto.

No reply was filed.

The facts are substantially as follows:

The building, comprising Nos. 815-817, 819-821, Washington avenue, faced south. The so-called boiler room extended the whole width of both buildings, from the east wall of building 815-817 to the west wall of building 819-821, and projected out some under the alley, being on the north end of the building.

The boiler room was an abandoned one, the boilers had been removed from their former position, the retaining walls had been torn down, and much of the miscellaneous pieces of metal, brick, and other objects had accumulated therein. Prior to the heating service inaugurated by the defendant for said building, these boilers had furnished steam, but because the steel from the boilers projected under an adjoining lot where the Lennox Hotel was later erected, the boilers were, at the time of the erection of the hotel, dismantled and pushed towards the east.

The only clear space, according to the evidence and photographs, in the boiler room was along the south wall for approximately 12 or 15 feet, extending from about the middle of 819-821 Washington avenue to the eastward where, a little north of the line separating the two buildings (815-817 and 819-821), the steam meters were located. This alleged passageway was between three and four feet wide and laid with brick, part of which, however, had been removed, leaving holes therein. It was also crossed by iron heating pipes and partly obstructed by a large vertical pipe called by witnesses the "downspout."

In the heating service by defendant, high-pressure steam was brought into the boiler room and there reduced to low pressure. The apparatus for this purpose was located in the east part of the boiler room and in the rear of 815-817 Washington avenue. At this place were the reducing valves and two meters. One heating pipe ran through the south wall of the boiler room and furnished steam to heat 815-817 Washington avenue. The valve to turn this steam off and on was not in the boiler room, but was south of the south wall of the boiler room. Another steam pipe ran over to the west and then turned and ran into 819-821 Washington avenue. This pipe also had a valve for the owner's convenience, which valve was located in the boiler room about two feet north of the south wall. Immediately south of this valve about two feet was located the only entrance door, then in use, of the boiler room. There was a switch at the entrance door which was designed to light three electric lights inside the boiler room. Two of these lights were in the northwest part of the boiler room and gave no light to that portion of the floor called the passageway. There was a light over the steam meters, which lighted up this portion of the floor, and if it were not in service and burning this passageway would be in complete darkness.

Plaintiff was janitress of both buildings and had under her control another girl, named Alberta Williams, each operating a freight elevator. It was Alberta Williams' duty each morning and evening to turn the steam valves for 815-817 Washington avenue, but her duties did not require her presence in the boiler room. It was plaintiff's duty to turn the steam valve for 819-821 Washington avenue. This did not require plaintiff to go into that portion of the boiler room where she was injured.

Plaintiff was injured on November 27, 1931, the day after Thanksgiving. On November 25, 1931, two of defendant's employees, Pleiman and Kemper, came into the building to replace one of the meters that was being used. After completing the replacement they had another job of repair to which they were compelled to hurry, and they left the meter, which had been removed, in the boiler room.

On November 27, 1931, plaintiff came to work and turned the valve in the boiler room and thereupon the steam entered the west half of the building (819-821) and heated it. Alberta Williams turned the valve which was south of the boiler room wall, but no heat developed in the east half of the building (815-817). Thereupon complaints were made to the plaintiff by tenants in that portion of the building and plaintiff telephoned Mr. Blanckaert, the manager of the building, and he told her to check up on the valves and see that they were opened.

Thereupon plaintiff went down to the basement again to make sure that the two valves were open. She then discovered that the steam pipe for the east half of the building (815-817), was cold before it reached the valve. Thereupon she notified defendant so that expert workmen could be dispatched to adjust the difficulty. She was at a loss to understand how the heat could come into the west half of the building without coming into the east half and in an effort to solve the mystery she went into the boiler room to feel the steam pipe at the east part of the boiler room at the rear of 815-817 Washington avenue. She admitted that she had no skill in inspecting or adjusting steam heating apparatus and there was nothing she could do after making this investigation to remedy the difficulty. For that purpose she entered the boiler room, turning on the switch, and found that the light which lighted the so-called passageway, was not burning, but that the other two lights which did not give any light to the passageway responded to the turning of the switch. The passageway remained in darkness, and, for the purpose of feeling the pipes, according to her own admission, she went along this passageway into the east...