Stewart v. Int'l Paper Co.
| Decision Date | 12 December 1901 |
| Citation | 51 A. 237,96 Me. 80 |
| Parties | STEWART v. INTERNATIONAL PAPER CO. |
| Court | Maine Supreme Court |
(Official.)
Exceptions from supreme judicial court, Androscoggin county.
Action by Peter Stewart against the International Paper Company. Verdict for plaintiff, and defendant excepts. Exceptions sustained.
Argued before WISWELL, C. J., and EMERY. WHITEHOUSE, STROUT, and SAVAGE, JJ.
D. J. McGillicuddy and F. A. Morey, for plaintiff.
G. D. Bisbee and R. P. Parker, for defendant.
The plaintiff, having sustained personal injuries while in the employ of the defendant in the latter's pulp mill, alleged as one of the causes therefor a drain in the basement of the mill, which at the moment of the accident was uncovered, and into which the plaintiff stepped, fell, and in consequence thereof received the injuries complained of.
This drain, several Inches deep, was used to carry off the waste pulp that collected around the pump and upon the basement floor. A plank had been provided with which to cover the drain, and which, so far as the exceptions show, was proper in size and in all respects for the purpose. When the plank was down over the drain, it formed a part of the floor of the basement, and was used by the employés who had occasion to be there. But in order to use the drain for the purpose for which it was intended, —in washing the basement floor and in carrying off the waste pulp that had accumulated there,—it was necessary to remove the plank; and the use of the drain in this way, including the removal of the plank covering it, was a matter of daily occurrence.
The presiding justice gave very clear instructions to the jury in regard to the respective rights and duties of master and servant, and especially as to the duty of the master "not only to provide, but to maintain, a reasonably safe place in which his employé may do his work." In the course of his instructions he said: "While an employer in contracting does not make himself liable, as a rule, for the negligence of other parties, and the employé takes upon himself and assumes the risks which arise from the negligence of fellow servants, yet, so far as these personal obligations which I have named—those of providing and maintaining a safe place in which to do the work—are concerned, the master or employer cannot escape his responsibility by delegating that work to another servant." He then gave the following instruction, which is the one complained of: "And if you find,...
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