Court Opinion

ID: 9454555
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 18:49:54.256694+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:34:09.985917
License: Public Domain

ON PETITION FOR REHEARING
PER CURIAM:
In their petition for rehearing defendants strenuously argue that the trial court’s action in finding the plaintiff guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law is amply supported by the undisputed evidence showing, among other things, that plaintiff “actually participated in taking precautionary measures to fasten the shroud around the equipment and to install the air educ-tor”; that he was “in control of the welding work which was taking place at the time of the explosion or fire”; that he “could have stopped the welding work at any time by merely signaling or speaking to a man under his supervision who was stationed on the ground below the welder, and he did not do that”; and that he “knew that welding in proximity to the vapors could cause an explosion or fire”.
In determining the sufficiency of the evidence to raise a question of fact for the jury in diversity cases, federal courts must apply a federal test. Planters Manufacturing Co. v. Protection Mutual Insurance Co., 380 F.2d 869 (5th Cir. 1967). Precedents with varying factual situations are, of course, helpful, but almost no case is a precise replica of another, so the court, in each case, must determine whether, under the particular facts of that case, the issue of negligence or contributory negligence presents a question of law for the court or one of fact for the jury. See Texas & Pacific Railroad Co. v. Laborde, 257 F.2d 587, 590 (5th Cir. 1958).
We have in our original opinion fully stated our views, especially under the heading, “Evidence of plaintiff’s contributory negligence”. The question was whether the ordinarily prudent man in plaintiff’s position would have recognized the danger inherent in the situation and either ordered the welding to stop or fled from the dangerous area, or both, in time to prevent the injuries that plaintiff suffered. After having restudied the entire record in the case, we remain convinced that that question was one about which reasonable men could disagree. The trial court correctly submitted the issue of contributory negligence to the jury under proper instructions,1 but its subsequent action in *916granting judgment for defendants notwithstanding the verdict favorable to plaintiff was erroneous. Accordingly, the petition for rehearing is denied.

. The court in his charge stated in part as follows:
“Then they (defendants) say even if you find that W. R. Grace was negligent, that the plaintiff was also negligent, which is contributory negligence. Now, negligence is the doing of some act which a reasonably prudent person would not do, or the failure to do something which a reasonably prudent person would do, actuated by those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs. It is the failure to use ordinary care in the management of one’s person or property. Ordinary care is that care which persons of ordinary prudence exercise in the management of their own affairs. Tou will note that the person whose conduct is set up as a standard is not the extraordinarily cautious individual nor the exceptionally skilful one, but a person of reasonable and ordinary prudence. While exceptional skill is to be admired and even encouraged, the law does not demand it as a general standard of conduct.
“Now, when I give you this definition of negligence, you must realize that the same definition applies to both plaintiff and defendant. Plaintiff must prove the defendant guilty of negligence proximately causing the accident if he is to prevail. Whether or not he is negligent *916■will be determined when you apply the facts of the case to the law that I am giving you on negligence. I will give you some additional definitions in a moment.
“On the other hand, the plaintiff says —the defendant says that plaintiff was negligent. This is contributory negligence. Now, negligence or contributory negligence must be measured by the facts applied to the law or to this law that I have given you. The standard of care goes both ways. Contributory negligence is conduct for which plaintiff is responsible amounting to a breach of duty which the law imposes upon a person to protect himself from injury, and which concurring or cooperating with actionable negligence for which the defendant is responsible, contributes to the injury complained of as a proximate cause.
“Contributory negligence may be due to either acts of omission or acts of commission. It may consist of doing the wrong thing at the time and place in question or it may arise from doing nothing when something should have been done. That is contributory negligence. The defendant bears the burden of proving that on the part of the plaintiff by a preponderance of the evidence.”