Sheckles v. Clinton Construction Co.

McLUCAS, J.,

pro

tem.

This is an action prosecuted by plaintiffs to recover damages for injuries sustained, due to the alleged negligence of the defendants. The case was tried before the court without a jury. Judgment went for plaintiff Katherine M. Sheckles, in the sum of $500, and for her husband, coplaintiff Walter B. Sheckles, in the sum of $387. From the judgment entered, the defendants present this appeal.

There is no dispute as to the fact that plaintiff Katherine M. Sheckles was injured while walking on a temporary plank sidewalk constructed by the defendants along the north side of the Lane building, situated at the southwest corner of Spring and Eighth Streets, Los Angeles, and that as a result of falling, plaintiff Katherine M. Sheckles broke one of the small bones of her left ankle.

The findings of the court were: “That said temporary sidewalk was not even, but was constructed of pieces of rough boards of irregular length and that the same was so carelessly, negligently and dangerously constructed as to be dangerous for pedestrians to walk upon. That upon the west end of the said temporary sidewalk where the same reaches the point opposite the alley in the rear of the said building, the said defendants negligently constructed the said temporary sidewalk in such a manner that one of the boards at a point where there was a step from the said temporary sidewalk to the public alley extended about one and one-half inch beyond the other boards constituting the surface of the said temporary sidewalk; that the construction of the said sidewalk was carelessly and negligently installed and that the same was not done in a good and workmanlike manner and that the defendants did not use the care required of them in the construction of said sidewalk, and that by reason of the negligence and want of ordinary care in the construction thereof, the said sidewalk, at the point above mentioned, was dangerous to the life and limb of the pedestrians walking upon the said temporary sidewalk. ¡The

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(trial) court further finds that on the evening of the sixth day of June, 1922, at about 6:30 o’clock, the plaintiff Katherine M. Sheckles was walking westerly from Spring street upon and along the said temporary sidewalk so constructed and maintained by the said defendants, and that when said plaintiff reached the end of the said temporary sidewalk where the same reaches the alley on the westerly side of the said property she stepped down with her left foot and in attempting to step with her right foot from the sidewalk the heel of the shoe of her left foot caught on the projecting board carelessly and negligently left by the defendants projecting from said sidewalk by which she was tripped and fell in such a manner as to fracture the bones of her left ankle.”