Robinson v. King

McCOMB, J.

From a judgment directing a verdict in favor of defendants after trial before a jury in an action to recover damages for injuries resulting from the alleged negligence of defendants, plaintiff appeals. There is also a purported appeal from the order denying plaintiff’s motion for a new trial.

Fads:

Plaintiff, a licensed plumber, was employed by defendants to install certain plumbing and do repair work in connection therewith on a hotel of defendants’ known as the Ohio Hotel. Specifically he was hired to install a boiler, heater and the regular pipe work in connection therewith.

The work was done in an area of the hotel below the street level and generally toward the rear thereof. When the job was nearly completed plaintiff visited the premises to inspect the work which his employees had done. It was customary for him, when the work had been completed, to “bleed the lines,” an operation consisting of finding the spigots and turning them on so that impurities and air would be let out.

Plaintiff entered a large refrigeration or loading room where considerable work had been performed in assembling parts and materials for installation. In this room he found no spigots which were in working order. The only light in the room was furnished by a single electric bulb near the front of the room and some daylight which came through the open doors, also at the front of the room. He went toward the back looking for spigots and particularly for a washroom where they would probably be located. As he approached the rear of the room he could see a doorway in the dim light which he thought was the entrance to a washroom. He went

[457]

to this doorway, reached inside for a light switch and finding none stepped through the doorway and fell headlong down a steep flight of stairs. There was no light provided immediately in front or immediately inside of the open stair well, there was no door, sign or other guard to the entrance to the flight of stairs. As a result of the fall plaintiff was seriously injured.

Questions:

First:

Did the trial court err m directing a verdict in favor of defendants?