Nolen v. F. O. Engstrum Co.

SHAW, J.

The defendant appeals from the judgment and from an order denying its motion for new trial.

The plaintiff recovered judgment for damages alleged to have been caused by the defendant’s negligence. The complaint alleges that the plaintiff was employed by defendant to work as a carpenter in a building which the defendant was erecting, and was put to work upon a scaffold constructed in the building as a place upon which the workmen were to stand when at work on the building; that while plaintiff was so engaged the scaffold gave way, in consequence whereof he fell and received the injuries complained of. It is alleged that the. defendant carelessly allowed the boards of the scaffold to become misplaced, so that they would not support the plaintiff’s weight; that because of defendant’s neglect the braces supporting the scaffold were not sufficiently nailed and were not of sufficient strength, in consequence whereof they would not sustain the weight of the men put to work thereon, and

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that the defendant had negligently failed to provide sufficient light to enable the plaintiff to see whether or not the boards of the scaffold were properly laid or supported, and that all of said acts of negligence caused plaintiff’s injury.

The defendant claims that there was no evidence of its negligence in the particulars charged in the complaint. This claim without foundation. It was the duty of the defendant to make the scaffold strong enough to sustain the weight of the workmen who were required to go upon it. Reasonable care required this. Under the law in force when the accident happened the plaintiff did not assume the risk arising from the dangers of the place in which he was at work. (Stats. 1911, p. 796.) Scaffolds built for such purposes do not usually break or fall with the weight of the workmen, if properly constructed. The fact that while the plaintiff was at work upon the scaffold it fell and precipitated him to the ground was of itself sufficient evidence that the scaffold was defectively constructed. The plaintiff testified that he felt the supports giving away at the time of falling. From this there would be a reasonable inference that the supports were insufficient, either because they were too weak to sustain the weight or because they were not sufficiently nailed. The doctrine of