Ziesemer v. McCarty

[379]

YORK, P. J.

Plaintiffs are the widow and mother, respectively, of Harry M. Ziesemer, who on February 1, 1943, while working in Los Angeles on Miranda Street, met his death in an accident involving a truck and trailer belonging to defendant McCarty, and which was being operated by defendant Lindsey in the course of his employment.

The truck was approximately 25 feet in length and the trailer was about 20 feet long and were joined by a pole or tongue 10 feet in length. Both the truck and trailer were loaded with lumber, that on the trailer being earmarked for the Miranda Street location, where houses were being erected by Harold L. Shaw, as owner, under the direction of decedent Ziesemer, as construction superintendent.

. Miranda Street at the point in question is 27 feet wide, on each side of which is a sloping shoulder or apron about four feet in width. The elevation of the shoulders from the street to the adjoining lots is about one foot, or a grade of 25 per cent. The over-all length of the trailer (19 or 20 feet) and the truck (24 or 25 feet) plus the pole or tongue which connected them (10 or 12 feet) was approximately 55 feet, consequently it was necessary for the driver Lindsey to back the trailer over the shoulder on the north side of the street into a position where the lumber could be rolled off onto the vacant lot. By the use of a bar and rollers, “the lumber was rolled backwards off the trailer so that it tipped down onto the ground, ’ ’ whereupon the defendant Lindsey drove the whole mechanism ahead, and the lumber dropped to the ground from the trailer at a point about four feet north of the shoulder on the north side of Miranda Street. This movement left a space of three or four feet between the south end of the pile of lumber and the rear end of the trailer, so that said rear end was about even with the shoulder. With the trailer in the position described, the rear wheels of the truck were on the shoulder on the south side of the street with the front wheels on the soft ground of the vacant lot, said truck standing at an angle to the southwest. After Mr. Ziesemer checked the lumber and signed a delivery slip therefor, defendant Lindsey got into the cab, released the brakes, and the ten-ton truck loaded with lumber, instead of moving forward, gradually rolled back. This movement of the loaded truck pushed the empty trailer into the pile of lumber, crushing Mr. Ziesemer, who was caught between the lumber and the trailer, and resulting in his death.