Stephens v. Pacific Electric Railway Co.

ALLEN, P. J.

The action was one by an employee against his employer on account of alleged personal injuries. Plaintiff was employed by defendant and engaged in operating an electric grinder, the motor of which was fed from the trolley wires of defendant. The appliance provided by defendant for the work comprised a grinder, a motor and wires feeding such motor, together with ground wires. This appliance had been in successful operation for some time and had been used the preceding day by plaintiff. Before the accident, neither the foreman of defendant, under whom plaintiff was performing his duties, nor the plaintiff knew of any defect in either the motor or the grinder. The morning of the accident, for some cause, the apparatus proved to be out of order. This the foreman attributed to a broken ground wire, the condition of which had been noticed before leaving the shop in the morning. The foreman directed plaintiff to repair this wire where broken, which was done, and when plaintiff undertook to operate the machine it developed that the defect was not cured. The foreman then, assisted by plaintiff, cleaned the commutator, and believing that this would relieve the difficulty, the foreman directed plaintiff to try the machine and see if it would work, neither the foreman nor plaintiff at the time apprehending any danger in so doing. Plaintiff took the grinder in his hand and turned on the electric current, when the grinder “flashed fire,”1 thus injuring plaintiff.

There is evidence warranting the finding of the jury that the appliance provided for the work, or that part thereof which connected the motor with the trolley wire, was not provided with a fuse. Had such fuse been provided, no injury of the character sustained by plaintiff would have resulted, even with a defective motor. Practically all of the other grinding appliances in use by defendant were controlled by a fuse, the purpose and office of which is to break the current through melting of the fuse, thus to obviate the

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danger of flashing or of other injury which might result to one operating the grinder. Neither the plaintiff nor the foreman were electricians; the foreman had had no experience in repairing electric apparatus, and plaintiff, when he turned on the circuit or undertook the use of the appliance furnished, had no appreciation of the danger incident to the use of the appliance in its then condition.