Roy Tong v. Sun Realty Co.

PARKER, J.,

pro

tem.

Appellant, defendant below, has appealed from an adverse judgment entered upon the verdict of a jury in an action for damages for personal injuries. The sole ground of appeal involves the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict and judgment. In this the contention of appellant is twofold. It is claimed, first, that the evidence fails to disclose any actionable negligence on the part of appellant; second, that the evidence

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shows without substantial contradiction that respondent was guilty of negligence, without which the accident would not have occurred.

Appellant’s brief is an argument upon the evidence, very likely the same argument that failed in the court below. Not a suggestion of complaint goes to any ruling of the trial court, nor is error claimed in the instructions to the jury.

There is little conflict in the evidence, save on the one point of warning given plaintiff, and plaintiff’s testimony that no notice or warning of any kind was given him was evidently taken as the fact by the jury. Appellant is the owner of a building in the city of Los Angeles in which are maintained and operated three passenger elevators. These elevators are of a type capable of a speed of six hundred feet per minute. We deem it unnecessary to detail the mechanics of the elevators. Each operates in a shaft or well. As a part of the machinery of the elevator is a compensating weight, or counterweight, which moves up and down within the shaft opposite to the direction in which the elevator is moving. For example, when the elevator is at the top floor the counterweight is at the bottom, and when the elevator is at the bottom the counterweight is above. This counterweight slides up and down within a track or slide, with some projection forward. Plaintiff was a carpenter engaged in making side openings in the elevators. As stated, there were three elevators, and for general purposes they may be designated by number, namely, 1, 2 and 3. In order that plaintiff might accomplish his work, it was necessary that he enter the shaft of each elevator. He had completed his work in the shafts of elevators 2 and 3 and was working in shaft number 1 when the accident occurred. It is important to note here that the construction in shafts 2 and 3 differed from that of shaft 1. The counterweight in shafts 2 and 3 was constructed and operated in and on the back of the shaft, and in a place where no harm or injury could result to one standing or working on the side or front of the shaft. In elevator shaft No. 1, however, the construction, as we have said, was different. In this shaft the counterweight operated on the side of the shaft, but little distant from the front. Respondent in completing his work on elevators 2 and 3 was ready to