Cain v. Friend

DRAPER, J.

Plaintiff appeals from judgment entered upon directed verdict in this personal injury action.

Defendants, husband and wife, owned their home, and had commenced construction of an addition to it. The husband, a joiner, was building the addition in his spare time. He and his wife had known plaintiff, a journeyman carpenter, for some years. Defendants asked plaintiff’s mother to have him come to see them. He did. They discussed the construction work on defendants’ home. Plaintiff expected that he would not be employed for two or three days, and volunteered to do a portion of the building job without compensation. Defendants accepted his offer, pointed out the details of the work

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to be done, and gave him a key to their home, since both of them would be away the next day. Plaintiff testified that defendant husband showed him a ladder and said that he could use it, but defendant denied this. The next day, plaintiff returned to defendants’ home as agreed and commenced work. He worked through the morning, using the ladder frequently. In the early afternoon, as he descended the ladder, the bottom rung broke, causing plaintiff to fall some 16 feet to the ground.

■ This action seeks damages for the injuries sustained in that fall. At the close of plaintiff’s ease, motion for nonsuit was denied, but after further argument, motion for directed verdict was granted.

A trial court’s power to direct a verdict is subject to the same limitations as its power to grant a nonsuit.

(Pellett

v.

Sonotone Corp.,

26 Cal.2d 705, 708 [160 P.2d 783, 160 A.L.R. 863].) Hence we view the evidence in the light most favorable to plaintiff, disregarding conflicts and indulging all reasonable inferences in plaintiff’s favor.

The principal issue argued here is whether plaintiff was an invitee or a licensee. An occupant of land owes to an invitee the duty to exercise ordinary care to keep the premises in a reasonably safe condition.