King v. Griffith Co.

WOOD (W. J.), J.

—Plaintiff commenced this action to recover damages for injuries which he received when he fell into a ditch at the reception center for evacuated Japanese at Manzanar, California. At the conclusion of plaintiff’s evidence the court granted defendants’ motion for a nonsuit and plaintiff has appealed from the judgment entered thereafter.

The reception center at Manzanar in April, 1942, was being prepared as rapidly as possible by the United States Government for the reception of the Japanese who were being evacuated from the coastal areas. The general contractor for the work was Griffith Company, a corporation, and defendants Vincent and Pringle held a subcontract under which they were to excavate trenches for the laying of sewer

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pipe. Plaintiff was an employee of Asbestos Roofing and Insulation Company, holder of a subcontract for the roofing and papering on the buildings.

The camp for the Japanese was built in blocks of buildings on a gentle slope from the mountains toward the main highway. The streets were being located on this slope approximately 400 feet apart and at intersections of about 600 feet intersecting streets were being prepared to run parallel to the highway.

Under their contract defendants were engaged in digging trenches with a machine known as a ditch digger. Plaintiff, an experienced roofer, had been working on this job for about two weeks before the accident in question and during that time he had crossed over a number of ditches dug by defendants without difficulty. At ten o’clock in the morning of April 27th, in attempting to step across a ditch which was approximately two feet in width and from four to six feet in depth he fell to the bottom of the ditch and was injured by striking a pipe which had been placed therein. He carried in his hand a bucket half filled with cement. His fall was caused by the cave-in of the edge of the trench for about 18 inches at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. Several of plaintiff’s fellow workmen had crossed the ditch ahead of him. One of them, Mr. Dressel, had crossed about six feet in advance of plaintiff. When plaintiff approached the ditch he stopped at approximately one and one-half feet from its edge, and as he started to cross, the edge of the ditch gave way.