Douglas v. Maloney

VAN DYKE, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment entered upon a jury’s verdict awarding damages to plaintiff. Plaintiff’s injury was caused by her tripping on a 2x4 sill which formed the base of a scaffold that defendant had constructed.

Defendant, as a general contractor, agreed to make certain repairs to the front of a building located at 320 K Street, Sacramento, California, the work consisting primarily of removing the fire wall. A permit to do this work was obtained from the city. As an incident to the performance of the work, the defendant constructed a scaffold in front of the building. It was 80 feet in length along the front of the building, was 36 to 40 feet high and was supported at the base upon two 2x4 sills resting on the sidewalk. Upright supports were attached to the sills, spaced 7 feet apart. The lowest cross members were 7 feet above the sills and the sills were 4 feet apart. The inside sill was 15 inches from the building. The sidewalk was 16 feet wide from the front wall of the building to the curb. Thus the scaffold occupied approximately one third of the width of the sidewalk and extended along in front of three or four stores. These stores remained open during the period the work was being performed. Persons entering and leaving these stores therefore were obligated to pass over the two sills.

The accident occurred about 7 p. m. on October 11, 1947. Plaintiff and her companion were walking east on the south

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side of K Street. They walked along the sidewalk outside the scaffolding for almost its entire length from west to east. Plaintiff was aware of the scaffold as she walked along. Near the east end of the scaffold her companion went into a store and plaintiff waited on the outside. She waited there for some few minutes until, in order to make room for other pedestrians passing along the sidewalk, she moved toward the building, tripped on the sill and fell toward the store entrance. She testified she did not see the sill before falling. The area was well lighted by street lights and store lights. The sill was covered with dust and was of the same general color as the sidewalk.

Appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient as a matter of law to establish negligence. It is first argued that appellant was required under the rules of the Industrial Accident Commission to construct continuous sills at the base of the scaffold as footings for the uprights and therefore, he having done so in compliance with the rules, negligence could not be predicated upon his acts in doing so. The safety orders of the commission provide that “The uprights of the scaffold, when resting on a sidewalk, shall be secured at the • bottom to a continuous sill to prevent slipping.”