Case Name: PAUL v. CONSOLIDATED FIREWORKS CO. OF AMERICA
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1910-12-30
Citations: 126 N.Y.S. 768
Docket Number: 
Parties: PAUL v. CONSOLIDATED FIREWORKS CO. OF AMERICA.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's New York Supplement
Volume: 126
Pages: 768–775

Head Matter:
PAUL v. CONSOLIDATED FIREWORKS CO. OF AMERICA.
(Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department.
December 30, 1910.)
1. Appeal and Error (§ 927 )—Review—Review Upon Dismissal.
In determining the propriety of a judgment dismissing the complaint, plaintiff’s evidence should be taken as true, and all permissible inferences favorable thereto drawn.
[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Appeal and Error, Cent. Dig. § 3748; Dec. Dig. § 927.*]
2. Master and Servant (§ 280*)—Injuries — Actions — Jury Question-Negligence.
When injured, plaintiff was nailing a piece of wood to fireworks which were filled with highly explosive powder. The fireworks exploded immediately after plaintiff struck the nail. Plaintiff’s evidence showed that the fireworks were highly explosive and could be exploded by driving a steel nail into them, and that such danger could be reduced somewhat by using nails made of a soft metal and by lubricating the explosive substance. Steel wire nails had been used without accident for five or six years. Held, that the question whether plaintiff’s employer was negligent In not lubricating the explosive substance and in using steel wire nails was for the jury.
[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Master and Servant, Dec. Dig. § 386. ]
3. Master and Servant (§§ 101, 102*)—Master’s Liability—Furnishing Tools.
A master does not insure his employes’ safety, and hence is not bound to furnish for their use the most approved tools and appliances, but need only furnish tools which are reasonably safe when properly used.
[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Master and Servant, Cent. Dig. §§ 135, 171, 180-184; Dec. Dig. §§ 101, 102.*]
4. Master and Servant (§ 286*)—Injuries — Jury Questions — Safety of Tools.
The question of the master’s reasonable care varies with the circumstances of the particular case, so that the question of whether tools furnished for. employés’ use were reasonably safe, under all the circumstances, is primarily a question for the jury.
[Ed. Note.—.For other cases, see Master and Servant, Cent. Dig. §§ 1010-1031; Dec. Dig. § 286.*]
Woodward, J., dissenting.
Appeal from Trial Term, Richmond County.
Action by Henry Paul, an infant, by Henry M. Paul, his guardian ad litem, against the Consolidated Fireworks Company of America. From a judgment dismissing the complaint, plaintiff appeals.
Reversed, and a new trial granted.
Argued before WOODWARD, JENKS, THOMAS, RICH, and CARR, JJ.
Herbert C. Smyth, for appellant.
Frederick W. Catlin' (George M. Pinney, Jr., on the brief), for respondent.
For other cases see same topic & § number in Dec. & Am. Digs. 1907 to date, & Rep’r Indexes
For other cases see same topic & § number in Dec. & Am. Digs. 1907 to date, & Rep’r Indexes

Opinion:
CARR, J.
The plaintiff appeals from a judgment of the Trial Term of this court, dismissing his complaint at the close of his case. It was the second trial of his action. The first trial resulted in a judgment of $10,000 in his favor. That judgment was reversed by this court, and a new trial ordered. Paul v. Consolidated Fireworks Co., 133 App. Div. 310, 117 N. Y. Supp. 698. On the new trial so ordered, the trial court was of opinion that the evidence presented by the plaintiff failed to make out a cause of action within the rule declared by this court in its opinion on the appeal from the first judgment, and, accordingly, dismissed the complaint on defendant's motion. The question now presented for decision is, primarily, whether our former decision covers the facts presented in the record now before us. Before considering this question in its details, it is well to note that the present record differs from the former in a very important distinction. On the first trial both parties tried out their respective cases. The appeal from the resulting judgment presented questions both of fact and of law, and this court was authorized to, and did, pass upon both. Here, however, the question presented is practically one of law, to be determined upon the assumption that the plaintiff's evidence is true, and that he is entitled to the most favorable inferences that may be drawn properly from the facts he has proved.
The action is that of a servant against a master to recover for personal injuries alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the master. The defendant was engaged in the business of making fireworks. The plaintiff, at the time of the accident, was a mere lad of 15 years of age, and had entered into the service of the defendant about a year and a half before. One of the articles made by defendant for fireworks display was what is called in this case a "geyser." Its nature was that of a thick compressed paper cylinder, filled with- an explosive powder compound which, when ignited by a fuse, emitted from its top a shower of brilliant sparks. In order to assist in its use for the purpose of display, a short and narrow piece of wood was secured to a side of the cylinder by one nail, which was inserted through the wood, through a hole previously prepared, and then driven through the paper cylinder into the composition filling to its full length, which was about one inch. To drive the nail home, a brass-headed hammer was used, and it required usually two strokes of the hammer to complete the driving, although at times three strokes were necessary. The composition filling the cylinder was put in by hand with a scoop, and then subjected to an hydraulic pressure of nearly two tons, thus compressing the mass within the cylinder to a compact and hard consistency, as the cylinders were in length but from four to seven inches, and the diameter of the interior was but one inch. The pressure was applied through a ram which fitted closely the interior surface of the paper cylinder case. The composition, so compressed, was a mixture of saltpeter, sulphur, and charcoal in defined proportions; the various substances having been mixed together in a tub by hand and finally run through a sieve, which was-of 10 meshes to , the inch. The plaintiff had nothing to do with making the mixture, nor filling the cylindrical case; his sole duty at the time of the accident being to secure the piece of wood to the already filled cylinder, in the manner above indicated. The nails furnished by the defendant for such use were made of steel wire, with a point of irregular shape. The plaintiff had been at work all morning at his bench, nailing these sticks to the geyser cylinders. The bench was of wood, with its table covered in places by zinc, galvanized iron, and sheet iron. On this surface had accumulated some small quantity of the explosive compound, which had escaped from the cylinders in the process of handling and nailing, and which lay on the table in the form of a fine dust. The accident happened in the afternoon. The plaintiff undertook to affix a stick to one of the geyser cylinders; he put the nail through the hole in the stick, and started to drive it into the cylinder at a spot marked on the surface for that purpose. At the second stroke of the hammer, the nail appears to have struck something hard, and the blow of the hammer was followed by a flash of flame from the cylinder, an explosion of the cylinder, and consequent serious injury to the plaintiff.
The story as to the happening of the accident was the same on both trials. The explanations offered as to its cause differ essentially. On the first trial, the plaintiff set out to prove that the explosion had been caused through a spark resulting from the forcible contact of the head of the brass hammer with the head of the steel wire nail, and that this spark had communicated itself to the explosive compound lying on the table, and, through quick ignition, had caused an explosion, On the first trial, the undisputed evidence was that the compound in the "geyser" could not be exploded by concussion, but only by ignition caused by a spark or a flame. Hence the then necessity of accounting'for a spark. The claimed negligence of the defendant was then that, in furnishing for such use steel nails to be driven by a brass hammer, it failed to use ordinary care, for, according to the common knowledge of people handling explosive compounds, there was a constant danger of the generation of a spark from the forcible contact of steel and brass, and that to avoid such danger common prudence would require the use of nails made of brass or some soft metal. It was on this theory of causation that the question of defendant's liability was submitted to the jury on the first trial. This court reversed the judgment then obtained on the ground that there was no proof that, in fact, any spark resulted from the blow of the hammer on the head of the nail, and therefore no proof that the explosion had been caused through the use of unfit tools furnished by the defendant. This court evidently regarded the claimed causal connection of the hammer head and the nail head as too speculative to amount to the dignity of the proof required to establish liability under the facts of the case then before it. On the new trial,-however, a new theory of the accident has been presented. It is not sought to account for the explosion on the theory of a spark generated outside the cylinder by the blow of a brass hammer on the head of a steel nail, and the learned counsel in his brief disclaims such a cause for the accident, frankly declaring that, in his opinion, the expert evidence on the first trial to that effect was based upon a clear mistake. Now the plaintiff seeks to account for the explosion of the cylinder by an ignition of the explosive compound within the cylinder, resulting from heat caused by friction following from the forcible contact of the steel nail with the hard mass of the compound. He gave proof to show that the compound was highly explosive, more so than blasting powder, and readily explosive under friction resulting from the contact of steel being driven into it forcibly. There was proof that the steel nail could produce friction enough to generate ignition and con-, sequent explosion, and proof that in other places where geysers were made the use of steel nails was purposely avoided because of this fact.
Assuming that it was proved that in the use of steel nails, for the purposes above described, there was always present the danger of an explosion resulting from friction and consequent ignition, and that such danger could be reduced to some extent by the use of nails made of a softer metal, and by a lubrication of the explosive by graphite, can it be declared as a matter of law fhat a master, who has handled explosives for 30 years or more, has exercised reasonable care for the safety of his servants, in omitting lubrication of the explosive grains and in furnishing tools in the use of which there is necessarily inherent so grave a danger? Unless this question can be answered in the affirmative, then the learned trial court erred in dismissing the complaint on the record now before us. All of the facts assumed in the foregoing question appear established, for the time being, in the proofs presented by the plaintiff on this trial. In endeavoring to present his proofs, some questions asked by plaintiff from his expert witness, as to the common knowledge of the. properties of steel and explosives in the trade, and as to the nature and measure of the friction engendered, were excluded, upon objection by the defendant, and erroneously so. Yet there remains in the case proof of all the facts thus assumed. It seems to me quite clear that the question presented was not one of law, but one of fact for the jury. It is true that it appeared that the defendant had been using steel wire nails for five or six years without an accident, but if a probable danger of an accident was always present, and reasonably obvious to the master, then his past freedom from actual casualty does not in law amount to a justification of the continuance of such conduct; it is simply an element for the jury's consideration.
As was said by Cullen, J., in Latorre v. Central Stamping Co., 9 App. Div. 145, 41 N. Y. Supp. 99:
"The fact that no previous accident of this character had happened does not relieve the master from liability, provided the accident was such that the probability of its occurrence might reasonably have been foreseen. We think this accident of such a character. The danger of igniting the turpentine from inserting the heated metal was one that should have been anticipated by a person having the technical knowledge on the subject- that the master must have possessed.''
The case there was one in which a lad of 14 was set at work dipping heated metal spoons into a batch of turpentine. It is true, of course, that a master is not an insurer of the safety of the servant; nor is there any legal duty imposed upon him to use the most approved tools and appliances, even though some others may use them, and that his legal duty is fulfilled when he furnishes tools which are reasonably safe when handled with due care. There is in this case no suggestion of lack of care, nor assumption of risk on the part of the plaintiff. The question of reasonable care on the part of the master varies with the surrounding circumstances. What would be due care in a carpenter shop might be gross negligence in a powder mill. Whether the tools in question were reasonably safe, considering all the circumstances, including the nature of the risk, is primarily a question for the jury.
I recommend, therefore, that the judgment be reversed, and a new trial granted; costs to abide the event.
jENKS and RICH, JJ., concur.
THOMAS, J.
Defendant's history relating to the manufacture of geysers shows' that they do not explode by friction when a steel nail is driven swiftly into them. Such continued experience may reasonably create the presumption that the powder was so prepared that sudden contact with the nail, whatever the friction engendered, would not cause explosion. There is in the case at bar sufficient evidence that the driving of the nail in some way did cause the' explosion. Hence it is an allowable inference that the mixture at the time in the cylinder was more sensitive to the driven nail. Plaintiff's testimony is that he performed his duty in the usual manner. So we have the premises that theretofore a cause of explosion was not present, and that at the time of the accident such cause was present. While the mere fact of the explosion may not be sufficient evidence of negligence, yet when it appears that the plaintiff did no unusual act that could cause it, with the same conditions present, and that a piece of steel, like the nail in question, may by friction cause an explosion of some preparation of powder, and that explosion did occur, then the burden of explanation is put upon the defendant, and the determination of the issue is by the jury.
The defendant's methods theretofore had been safe; in this instance some method used by it proved unsafe; theretofore defendant had protected its servants doing in unnumbered instances the same act that the plaintiff did; then, in a particular instance, all experience in result was reversed, and there was havoc from explosion where there had been security. It cannot be inferred, under such circumstances, that what had been previously done by the master was done at this time, or that the same conditions and causes were present. The defendant's claim is that its former practice was safe, and carried immunity. With that assumed, the inquiry arises: Was the same practice pursued in making the geyser, which was delivered to the plaintiff, who, as he testified, drove the nail and handled the geyser, as he had theretofore done in safety? When methods that have through years brought immunity are followed by happenings that cannot be traced to such methods, then should not the master show why a customary act, theretofore safe, should cause explosion ? The master should at least prove that the compound delivered to the servant was the same immune compound which it had previously delivered to him. The defendant has made no explanation. If several years' trial shows that a certain act of a servant in connection with a compound furnished him by the master is harmless, and then the same act in connection with a compound proves destructive, the master who made the compound, and not the servant who did the act, has the burden, of meeting a prima facie case.
The judgment and order should be reversed.