Wisconsin Arkansas Lumber Company v. Smith

Haet, J., (after stating the facts). The main question in the case is, was the defendant guilty of any negligence which caused the injury to the plaintiff? The plaintiff’s claim is that he was young and inexperienced, and that the machine was dangerous. He was injured on the third day after he commenced to work, and claims that he was doing the work as he had been directed to do by bis foreman. He was feeding pieces of ceiling tbrongb two ripsaws placed three inches apart. As the pieces of ceiling were pushed through the spaces between the ripsaws, the saws would cut off the tongue and groove of the piece of ceiling at the same time. The saws came up through holes in the top of the table, and the splinters which were cut off of the pieces of ceiling would accumulate and clog the saws about every twenty minutes. The foreman showed the plaintiff how to push the accumulated splinters away while the saws were run-ing, and thereby unclog them. He said that, while doing this with a piece of pine stick about twelve inches long, the stick caught in the saw and jerked his hand down to the saw and cut off a piece of his middle finger. Thus it will be seen that, by the plaintiff’s own testimony, he was shown how to do the work in question, and it is difficult to see what additional warning the defendant could have given which would in any manner have helped the plaintiff to avoid being hurt while unclogging the ripsaws. The plaintiff had just arrived at full age, and his testimony shows him to be a young man of fair intelligence. It is unnecessary to discuss the point made as to the groove having been cut larger than necessary by letting the table top up and down. The size of the groove had nothing whatever to do with the injury. The proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury was allowing his hand to be drawn against the revolving saw while engaged .in pushing the accumulated splinters through the groove so that the saw would become unclogged. The plaintiff’s own testimony shows that his injury was the result of an accident which could have been avoided by ordinary care on his part. As we have just seen, his foreman had shown him how to take a stick and push away the accumulated splinters. While he does say that no particular kind of stick was furnished him for that purpose, he testified that the stick he was using was ten or twelve inches long, and was not even broken while he was pushing the splinters away. It is difficult to see how the stick that he was using could have become fastened in the saws and have jerked his finger down to the saw, if he had been exercising ordinary care in doing his work. After his foreman had shown him how to unclog the ripsaws by the use of a stick, he must be deemed to have known and to have fully appreciated the danger arising therefrom, and we fail to discover any testimony tending to show any negligence on the part of the defendant. The cáse is within the principles of law decided in Fordyce Lumber Co. v. Lynn, 108 Ark. 377. His foreman having shown him how to unclog the ripsaws, by pushing away with a stick the particles of wood which accumulated, it must be said that the method of doing the work was under the plaintiff’s own control and that the accident was the result of his own carelessness. It follows that the court erred in submitting the negligence of the defendant to the jury, and, for that error, the judgment will be reversed, and, inasmuch as the'cause of action appears to htive been fully developed, it will be dismissed here.