Court Opinion

ID: 9809291
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 21:07:17.241537+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:25:52.766527
License: Public Domain

Douglas, J.,
concurring in result. I concur with the Court in the conclusion that, according to our decisions, which, I will frankly say, have in some instances gone too far, the defendant is entitled to a new trial on account of the admission of the witness’ opinion that the cog-wheels should ■be boxed. I do not concur in the opinion of the Court wherein it says that it was error to permit the witness to testify that he “had seen a frame with the cogs boxed up.’’ The witness does not appear to have expressed any opinion as to the best appliance for safety, nor in fact as to any other matter. He merely stated a simple fact which was material to the case. How else could the plaintiff begin to prove that boxed cogs *294were in general use except by witnesses who had seen them in other mills. Even experts could not prove that they were in general use unless they knew the fact of their own knowledge. Whether boxes are the best method of protecting cogs may be a question of expert opinion, but whether they are in general use is a fact to -which any one can testify. It is not necessary to prove it by any one witness, as it is difficult and frequently impossible to find any one man who has been through a sufficient number of mills to know the general custom. On the other hand, one witness may testify as to certain mills and other witnesses as to other mills. It cannot be held that the testimony of a witness is incompetent, simply because he does not testify as to a sufficient number of mills, because in that event the first witness would always be incompetent, and so all the witnesses would be excluded in turn. Moreover, the fact of general'use is not the exclusive test, nor can a box be called a new and untried device. The true test is the question what a man of ordinary prudence, having due regard for the rights and safety of his fellow-men, would do under similar circumstances. Suppose that cog-wheels, placed in a position of constant danger to passers by, could be conveniently covered at small expense and without materially interfering with their efficiency, would it not be the duty of the owner to have them covered ? The fact that a witness saw cog-wheels boxed in another mill ■would be admissible as tending to show that they could be boxed, and that they were boxed in other mills of a similar kind. What weight the jury would give to the evidence is another question and one entirely for them. Whether cogs in a given position can be boxed without interfering with their efficiency may require some experience to determine; but surely it does not require any expert knowledge for a man to know that there is less danger from machinery when it is boxed up so that he cannot possibly get into it, than there *295is if it is left open so that be may get into it. There is certainly less clanger of falling out of a window when the blinds are closed and securely fastened than when they are open. I see no error in the admission of that part of the testimony.
Clark, C. J., concurs in the concurring opinion.