Court Opinion

ID: 9653188
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 17:40:44.042334+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:55.519529
License: Public Domain

HUTCHESON, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
This is another of those interesting cases in which the law abounds, where judges, presumably possessing highly trained and thoughtful minds, trained in abstract reasoning, versed in the principles and the problems of proof, knowing in a scientific way how to evaluate evidence, to relate fact with fact, and how to draw correct inferences from them, find themselves irreconcilably differing upon the question whether there is evidence for plaintiff’s side of a ease on which reasonable minds could-base a verdict.
Finding myself in accord with the District Judge that there was evidence to take the ease to the jury, and with the jury that the verdict they found is not unreasonable, I make bold to set down, with supporting references to the record, what plaintiff’s proof amounted to and to point out the source of what I believe to be the error of the majority. This is the record as plaintiff’s proof makes it out.
Appellee, a minor, while working with the knowledge and consent, and as an invitee of, appellant, assisting her father, a weaver, had her eye put out by a shuttle, which, escaping from the loom, flew out and struck her with great violence. She did not know, nor was she warned, that, if the shuttle box eame out of alignment or anything went wrong with the precise adjustment its successful operation required, the shuttle might fly out. Plaintiff proved by her father that the loom had gotten out of fix that morning; that he had called this to the attention of the loom fixer, whose duty it was to keep the looms in repair; that, after it had been repaired, he had started it up and run it for the balance of the day; that just before the accident the thread broke, and the loom had automatically stopped, as it should have done; that he went and pulled the thread back, through the eye of the shuttle and put it back in the machine. “There is no reason I know of that would cause a shuttle to fly out if you start it properly and it was in good operating condition.” (Ree. p. 34.) “I started the loom np properly. I have been operating a loom for years, and at the time that shuttle flew out and struck my daughter I was operating it properly. There was no carelessness whatever on my part.” (Ree. 35.)
He further testified that there are lots of holts in the loom that hold it rigid and steady; that there is more or less vibration in operation, causing screws to come loose; that it was the duty of the loom fixer to constantly notice and keep the loom in proper shape. Plaintiff’s other witnesses Haile (Ree. 47) and Salter (Rec. 50) said the same thing,1 “That if it was in proper shape it is not possible for a result to happen as happened to my daughter.” (Rec. 58.) “If these parts of the loom that you have there (speaking of a loom offered in evidence) are in proper shape, it is not possible for this thing to fly out into, the aisle.” (Ree. 37.)
Defendant’s testimony fully corroborated that of plaintiff, that the shuttle could not possibly have come out as it did if it was properly operated, unless the box was out of alignment or there was something wrong with the operating mechanism of the loom. Every witness testified that the operations of the loom were attended with a great deal of vibration; that in time screws would work loose, the box would tend to become worn more on one side, the picker would tend to become worn, and, generally, that it was necessary to have constant supervision and repair going on. One of their witnesses, Lyle, a weaver, testified:
“Shuttle boxes have got not to he loose. I am talking about the four of them since this is perfectly straight and rigid, this has got to shoot right straight into the other box. As to whether the slightest deviation would cause that thing to miss, well, some of them are worse than others. It is not my duty to see whether the screws are tight or not. The loom fixer is supposed to watch them. They *61will work all right for a few hours and then all of a sudden it would swerve and throw thing's out. Ih is the loom fixer’s duty to keep them fixed; to go around and see about it.” (Itec. 65.)
He testified that, if the box was not out of order, it would be possible to throw the shuttle out by improper operation either in starting it or in stopping it; that they will fly out if they are in perfect alignment or in perfect shape if you pick a loom too quickly. “They aren’t right then, or they will not do like that. It is either out of order or something is wrong with the picking arrangement for it to fall out.” (Ree. 66).
Defendant’s two main witnesses, Caston, the overseer, and Benton, the loom fixer, swore positively that there was no faulty alignment, nothing wrong with the box at all, or with any part of its mechanism; that after the accident they found nothing wrong. They swore that the only thing, which could have caused the shuttle to come out must have been Small-wood’s faulty operation of the loom. Gaston made his testimony very strong in this regard, testifying that he had made a most thorough examination of the loom, and that he found nothing in or connected with it which would cause it to throw out the shuttle. (Ree. 77, 81-82 and 83.) His testimony in fact so completely eliminated every possible defect or trouble in the mechanism as a cause of the shuttle flying out as that it drove him to take a position directly contradicting Smallwood’s testimony that he operated the machine properly, putting him, not, as the majority stated, in a position of a witness whose testimony is uneontradieted and unimpeaehed, but of a witness whose testimony, if Smallwood is to be believed, is patently untrue. On page 89 Caston said:
“It could come out without that box being out of alignment. He could have failed to push the shuttle against the picker and that threw it out. As to whether it would be possible for a shuttle to fly out in the way this one did without something being out of order, the only thing that was wrong he didn’t start it up right”; and examined by the court (Rec. 93) he testified: “As to my opinion on what caused this shuttle to fly out, I think it was the way the loom was started up. That was faulty operation.”
In addition to this contradiction, Caston was flatly contradicted by both the father and the daughter on the issue of the daughter being in the mill with his consent. Finally, as he was bound to do to sustain his testimony that there was nothing wrong with the loom, he gave it as his positive opinion that faulty operation caused the shuttle to fly out. (Ree. 89-93.)
The loom fixer, Benton, testified in direct contradiction to the testimony of Caston that, if the box was not in a satisfactory condition of alignment, the shuttle would not do anything but come out, and, in corroboration of Lyle, that it would run for a while and then suddenly pop out, if there was something wrong: “Having gotten a signal from the weaver at 8 :30 in the morning that the loom was out of fix, he started it up and it ran a little while and then it slammed and banged off. It ran across a few times and once it hit the protection that was on it and stopped right there. After it stopped I started it another time to see if it would do the same thing and it ran a little while and did the same way, and I knew that something was wrong with it.” (Rec. 103.)
And then he fixed it, and this is the way he testified he fixed it: “1 went down to the other end of the loom and I put the shuttle against the rod in the upper box that time and I saw the shuttle would run a little and I knew it wasn’t true, and I got a straight edge and I taken the straight edge and ran it on my lay until it came to the end of that box and when it got there and wouldn’t touch it, it didn’t touch it at all until it got away back in the box. I loosened the set screw at the back of the box back to which it is fastened and got some little thin pieces of cardboard and I put pieces in until I got that box back to' where it would come out flush with my straight edge, and after I got that there slid clean across I knew that it was all right. I followed the standard way of adjusting that part of the loom. It is the only way I have ever learned.” (Rec. 102, 103.)
As to the examination he made at Gaston’s direction after the injury, he testified to seeing Caston starting the loom and running it for a while, and that after that he commenced looking around to see if he could find anything loose; that the only thing ho found loose was the bolt which holds one end of the stand which holds the protection rod; that that bolt, however, had nothing to do with propelling the shuttle or guiding the shuttle, and that it did not affect tho operation of the shuttle because there were two other bolts in that part which were tight, and anyway, if that rod had been clean off, it would not have affected the shuttle.
Ho testified further (page 10-9) that, before the flag indicating trouble was raised, he did not have pasteboard in the loom; that *62the pasteboard was necessary because he wanted to get it lined up, and that was the only means he had to get it in line. “It had been lined before, and it was off, and that was what I was doing when I went to it. I do not know whether the pasteboard had dropped out; I did not see the pasteboard.”
While he did not say so, directly, his testimony was to the same effect as that of Caston, that, as there was nothing wrong with the machine, the only possible cause of the shuttle coming out must have been faulty operation.
It is stated in the majority opinion that three of defendant’s employees, the loom fixer, the overseer, and another weaver testified that, after the injury, the shuttle was replaced, the loom carefully examined, nothing found wrong with it.
The majority is, I think, mistaken in stating that the weaver testified to the examination of the loom. This weaver, Gaddy, did testify that he went over ta the loom, picked up the shuttle and laid it on the front of the loom: “I stayed there at my work. The next thing that was done to that loom Mr. Caston and Mr. Benton was the next ones I seen at the loom. They started the loom up and it ran some ten or fifteen minutes. They stopped it. Mr. Benton looked over the loom. He started to examine it.”
He further testified: “As to what could throw the shuttle in that position the loom could have been started wrong. As to the way you can start the loom to get that result, you can fail to push the shuttle up in the box to start it.”'
Instead, then, of this being a ease, as the majority states it, of testimony “candid, clear and reasonable, and unopposed by other witnesses or by. circumstances which are irreconcilable with it,” this is a ease in which defendant relies on the testimony of two of its employees, one, the overseer, the other, the loom fixer, both greatly interested in exonerating both themselves and the company from blame, directly and positively contradicted by, and contradicting the testimony of, Small-wood, the weaver, that the injury was the result, not of fault in the mechanism, but of fault in the operation of it. Besides, the testimony of Caston that the machine could not run for a while right and then go wrong, but must either run right all the time or wrong all the time, is contradicted by the positive testimony of Benton and Lyle, and by the whole record; while the testimony of Benton as to the way he fixed the machinery and as tp what he found makes a fact issue for the jury whether he did not fix it so that it came out of alignment sufficiently to throw the shuttle out at the time it struek the girl, but not sufficiently to throw it out all the time.
I have no quarrel with the authorities the majority cite. They recognize that contradictions, inconsistencies, and incredibilities prevent the operation of the rule invoked. I think the case on this point is ruled by our case, Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. Sargent, 51 F.(2d) 4, 6, and the authorities cited in it, and that, speaking generally, this case is one in which, under the application of the res ipsa doctrine, it was for the jury to say whether the testimony of Smallwood that the machine was operated properly, and therefore it must have been out of order, or that of Caston and Benton that the machine was in order, and therefore must have been operated improperly, is true. This was to be determined by the ordinary rules of weighing evidence and the credibility of witnesses. This was for the jury-
But the majority say'that the state of the pleadings is such as that plaintiff may not avail herself of the res ipsa rule.
The doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is a rule of reasoning on evidence. It is not a rule of pleading. Texas-La. Power Co. v. Daniels (Tex. Civ. App.) 61 S.W.(2d) 179, 184; Bonita Theatre v. Bridges, 31 Ga. App. 798, 122 S. E. 255; Chenall v. Palmer Brick Co., 117 Ga. 106, 43 S. E. 443; Atlanta Coca-Cola Bottling Co. v. Danneman, 25 Ga. App. 44, 102 S. E. 542. It is the rule in most jurisdictions that, unless thei plaintiff has by definite allegations of negligence, as it did in Augusta R. & Electric Co. v. Weekly, 124 Ga. 384, 52 S. E. 444, tied itself to a particular ground, or cause of fault, it may, under general allegations of fault, avail itself of the doctrine. The rule of pleading in Georgia is even more liberal. There it is held that, where evidence is admitted without objection, which supports what is in fact the same cause of action, although it might have been excluded on objection, it may be availed of as a basis for recovery, if, under the facts of the ease, the petition could by amendment have been so conformed to the proof as to render such testimony relevant. Atlantic Life Ins. Co. v. Jackson, 34 Ga. App. 555, 130 S. E. 378; Napier v. Strong, 19 Ga. App. 401, 91 S. E. 579.
While, if there was any deficiency in plaintiff’s pleading, it has been cured by the reception of the evidence without objection, plaintiff does not need to invoke this rule. In the fullest kind of way her pleadings put in issue the defective character of the loom so as to permit her to recover if the evidence *63sustains the position she took, that the thing spoke negligence. Though in her original petition she did specifically charge that the picker sticks were warped, crooked, and out of line, and would not perform their functions, in the eighteenth paragraph she made out a typical ease for the application of the doctrine. There she alleged that the loom was out of condition, that the defendant had negligently permitted it to be operated in that condition so that it would not throw the picker stick to picker stick as intended by the manufacturer, and that, had it been in proper condition, the shuttle would have been thrown from picker stick to picker stick between the warps and would not have struck plaintiff in the eye; that her injury was therefore due to the improper condition of the loom, and the improper condition was the result of plaintiff’s negligence. When she first amended by striking out the word “stick’-’ after “picker,” she amended to more fully allege, not only a defect in the picker and stick, but that the shuttle boxes in which the pickers operate were out of alignment, and were loose, especially the one on the left-hand side of the loom, the vibration of the machinery had caused the box to become out of line, and that this condition was negligence.
Finally, by trial amendment of March 9, when she learned how the loom fixer had undertaken to repair the loom, she amended to allege:
“Plaintiff amends by leave of the Court as follows:
“Paragraph 19 by adding thereto: The defendant was actively negligent to plaintiff in that it knowingly improperly repaired the loom at which she was hurt in this, the 4 box shuttle box was out of alignment, and a few hours prior to the injury it, through its loom fixer, Benton, improperly and negligently repaired same by placing wads of pasteboard between the place where it is screwed on to the machine (both being iron) in such a way it knew or by the exercise of ordinary care should have known that it would not long support it in position; knowing that the loom vibrated and would throw it out, or mash it and thereby throw shuttle box out of alignment so that shuttle expelled would be thrown inte loom aisle where operator of loom worked and where petitioner was and not thrown in to shuttle box on other side as intended or would do if in proper fix.
“B. In using a box side that was not trued, and would not fit snug and rigid as one properly trued and fitted.
“C. In knowing these facts and not warning petitioner of the dangerous condition of said loom.”
Under these allegations, it was competent for the plaintiff to put in any fact which tended to establish that the boxes were out of alignment, and that because of that the shuttle flew out. When the evidence is considered in the light of the unquestioned physical fact that either there was something wrong with that machinery, or with Smallwood’s operation of it, I think it makes the clearest kind of a case for the jury’s verdict, as to which was the case.
I therefore respectfully dissent.

 TMs is the witness who said, “There are a hundred different things or more which would cause a shuttle to come out and fly into the aisle,” but that this was not meant to be taken literally is shown by the statement following: “As to what would be the main cause of that, screws can come loose and nuts can come loose and get out of line, out of order, the nuts come loose, let it drop, to give one case. At to what is the reason for the nuts coming loose, you constantly have to look after them to keep them tight, due to the vibration of the machine. If they are kept tightened up and in order the shuttle won’t hardly ever come out. I have never seen one fly out.” (Rec. 50 and 51.)