Opinion ID: 2618120
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Master and Servant

Text: (a) In the injured-workman cases prior to the enactment of remedial legislation, a workman could not recover if the injury was caused by an ordinary hazard inherent in the employment, provided he had taken the employment with full knowledge and appreciation of the risk thereof. Tucker v. Northern Terminal Co., 41 Or 82, 68 P 426 (1902). Such cases did not involve contributory negligence. The plaintiff was denied recovery, not because of any fault on his part, but because he voluntarily accepted the hazard as a normal condition of his employment. Restatement, 2 Agency 1220, § 521. (b) A second usage of assumption of risk is also found in master-servant cases prior to modern legislation. In these cases, the court is dealing with fault on the part of the plaintiff which amounts to contributory negligence. Where the fault consists of a voluntary act which places the workman in a position of known danger, beyond the ordinary risks of his employment, the courts call this type of contributory negligence assumption of risk also. Brundage v. Southern Pac. Co., 89 Or 483, 174 P 1139 (1918). Restatement, 2 Torts 1230, 1232, § 466 (a), Comment d. This second kind of assumption of risk by a workman may bar recovery only when it amounts to contributory negligence in cases where contributory negligence is a defense.