Court Opinion

ID: 9576195
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:21:38.155884+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:02:20.678651
License: Public Domain

Wertz, J.
(dissenting): I am unable to agree with the majority opinion of the court and I will attempt to briefly set forth my views regarding the questions on which I differ. It must be remembered this is an appeal from an order sustaining defendant’s demurrer to plaintiff’s evidence. There has been no complete trial. Before analyzing the evidence presented by plaintiff, it is well to emphasize *720certain well-established and often-repeated principles of law governing a ruling on a demurrer to a plaintiff's evidence.
First, in testing the sufficiency of evidence as against a demurrer, the court shall consider all of plaintiff’s evidence as true, shall consider that favorable to plaintiff, together with all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, and disregard that unfavorable to plaintiff, and shall not weigh any part that is contradictory nor weigh any differences between his direct and cross-examination, and if, so considered, there is any evidence which supports or tends to support plaintiff’s case on any theory, the demurrer should be overruled. A few of our more recent cases adhering to this rule are: Kendrick v. Atchison, T. & S. F. Rld. Co., 182 Kan. 249, 320 P. 2d 1061; Brent v. McDonald, 180 Kan. 142, 300 P. 2d 396; Harvey v. Palmer, 179 Kan. 472, 296 P. 2d 1053; McCracken v. Stewart, 170 Kan. 129, Syl. ¶ 1, 223 P. 2d 963; Fry v. Cadle, 171 Kan. 14, 229 P. 2d 724; Blankenship v. Fraker, 173 Kan. 438, 439, 249 P. 2d 683; Revell v. Bennett, 162 Kan. 345, Syl. ¶ 1, 176 P. 2d 538; Huggins v. Kansas Power and Light Co., 164 Kan. 27, 187 P. 2d 491; Gabel v. Hanby, 165 Kan. 116, Syl. ¶ 1, 193 P. 2d 239; Samms v. Regier, 167 Kan. 556, 207 P. 2d 414; Hukle v. Kimble, 169 Kan. 438, 441, 219 P. 2d 434; Schneider v. Stewart, 170 Kan. 158, 163, 223 P. 2d 698; Cain v. Steely, 173 Kan. 866, Syl. ¶ 3, 252 P. 2d 909; Siegrist v. Wheeler, 175 Kan. 11, Syl. ¶ 1, 259 P. 2d 223; Messinger v. Fulton, 173 Kan. 851, 252 P. 2d 904; Hill v. Southern Kansas Stage Lines Co., 143 Kan. 44, 53 P. 2d 923. Other cases holding to the same effect may be found in 5 Hatcher’s Kansas Digest [Rev. Ed.], Trial, § 151, and West’s Kansas Digest, Trial, § 156 (2) and (3).
Second, it is also a well-established rule in this state, as well as in other jurisdictions, that in determining whether a plaintiff is guilty of contributory negligence when tested by a demurrer, the question must be submitted to the jury if the facts of record are such that reasonable minds, in the exercise of fair and impartial judgment, might reach different conclusions thereon. Moreover, the question whether a negligent act is the proximate cause of an injury, and whether an ordinarily reasonable, prudent man would have seen that injury might have occurred as a result of a negligent act, is also a question of fact for the jury. My views are best expressed in the opinion in Lawrence v. Kansas Power & Light Co., 167 Kan. 45, 49, 204 P. 2d 752, wherein Mr. Chief Justice Harvey, speaking for this court stated:
*721“The legal questions here involved are so well settled in our law that they need not be labored. The actions were ones at common law in which plaintiffs sought damages alleged to have resulted from defendant’s negligence, and defendant had pleaded contributory negligence of the plaintiffs. These are the kinds of actions in which each party is entitled to a trial by jury as a matter of right. They should not he converted into trials by the court. Negligence is the lack of due care. The instances are relatively rare when the facts are such that the court should say that as a matter of law the negligence alleged has been established. Before the court should make such a holding the evidence should be so clear that reasonable minds, considering it, could have but one opinion, namely, that the party was negligent. In these cases we think the contributory negligence of plaintiffs was clearly a question of fact for the jury.” [Emphasis supplied.]
This reasoning has been reasserted and cited with approval in Blankenship v. Fraker, supra, p. 441; Cain v. Steely, supra, p. 873; Fry v. Cadle, supra, p. 17; Siegrist v. Wheeler, supra, p. 15; Thompson v. Barnette, 170 Kan. 384, 387, 227 P. 2d 120; and Samms v. Regier, supra. We said in Mehl v. Carter, 171 Kan. 597, 237 P. 2d 240:
“The question of negligence, including the determination of proximate cause, ordinarily rests in the province of the jury.” (Syl. ¶ 3.)
See, also, Rowell v. City of Wichita, 162 Kan. 294, 176 P. 2d 590; Atherton v. Goodwin, 163 Kan. 22, 180 P. 2d 296. Many other cases of like effect may be found in 4 Hatcher’s Kansas Digest [Rev. Ed.], Negligence, §§ 72 to 75, inch, and West’s Kansas Digest, Negligence, § 136 (9), (14), (25) and (26).
It must also be borne in mind the rule in this jurisdiction is that ordinarily in the absence of convincing evidence to the contrary it will be presumed a deceased person exercised due care for his own safety. (Long v. Foley, 180 Kan. 83, 91, 299 P. 2d 63, and cases cited therein.)
The general rule is stated in 35 Am. Jur., Master and Servant, § 497, p. 914:
“In an action for the death of an employee, the presumptions which arise in favor of the instincts of self-preservation and the known disposition of men to avoid injury and personal harm to themselves constitute a prima facie inference, where there was no eyewitness to the accident, that the servant was at the time in the exercise of ordinary care, and was himself free from contributory negligence.”
Being cognizant of this rule in favor of the plaintiff, let us review some of the facts. On the day' in question, decedent and defendant were engaged in the task of moving an irrigation pipe line in a corn*722field from one location to another. This task consisted of dismantling the pipe line into separate thirty-foot lengths of aluminum pipe joints weighing twenty pounds each, and loading them onto a flat wagon with the coupling end of each joint to the front to facilitate reassembling the pipe line, which carried water to various parts of the field. When any of the joints were out of place, it was decedent’s practice to upend the pipe, reverse it and replace it on the wagon. This was the first season in which the thirty-foot lengths of pipe were being used; twenty-foot lengths had been used in the past. In fact, the thirty-foot joints had first been used only a few days prior to the accident and there was testimony to the effect this was the first time decedent had ever handled irrigation pipe. Also, his death occurred on the first use of the longer pipe. The evidence disclosed the electric transmission line which paralleled the north end of the field where defendant was working had been recently reconstructed, with the job being completed late in' May, about one and one-half months before the accident occurred. The clearance from the ground to the hot wires of the power line, which carried 7200 volts, was approximately twenty-one feet and eight inches.
Decedent and defendant had been loading pipe on the wagon. The defendant, while operating the tractor which pulled the wagon, stopped directly under the hot wires, then left immediately thereafter to help a neighbor. Defendant was aware of the fact the power line was there, but testified he did not notice he had parked directly under it. He also testified he knew the pipe was in thirty-foot lengths and was aware of decedent’s action in upending the pipe on the day in question, but he said nothing to decedent about being parked directly under the hot wires. In short, defendant himself did not appreciate the danger, as indicated by his testimony:
“Q. When you knew that Gene [decedent] was going to load the pipe alone did you caution him about the nearness of the high line? A. It never occurred to me that the pipe would be off the ground or that the high line was there.
“Q. You gave him no instructions? A. No, sir.”
“Q. Was anything said to you or done to indicate that Gene [decedent] noticed that? A. No, sir.
“Q. I think you have already said you made no comment because it didn’t occur to you? A. Yes, sir.”
Apparently, decedent upended the last length of pipe so as to get it on the wagon with the correct end to the front and it came in con*723tact with the hot wires; as a result, he was electrocuted. There was no eyewitness to the accident and there is not a shred of evidence to show decedent was aware the wagon was parked directly under the hot wires, or that he knew the amount of voltage carried by the power line, or that he appreciated and was aware of the danger.
In view of the presumption of due care on the part of deceased, which was not rebutted by convincing evidence or by any evidence except a presumption against deceased on the part of the court, I cannot bring myself to the conclusion that as a matter of law decedent was guilty of contributory negligence. A young man with only an eighth grade education, employed as a general farm hand, is not presumed as a matter of law to have scientific knowledge as to the number of volts passing through an electric power line paralleling a highway. The high line was not one of the ordinary risks of his employment as a general farm hand. The minds of reasonable men could well conclude deceased was unaware of the high line and its powerful current, especially when his employer parked the wagon containing the irrigation pipe directly under the power line. Decedent had the right to assume that he had been furnished a safe place to work; at least, it was a question for the jury to determine.
It is the duty of the master to furnish his servant a safe place in which to work and safe instruments for the work in which the servant is engaged. In addition, it has also been held it is not only the duty of the master to provide his employees a safe place to work, including structure and surroundings, and safe and reasonably suitable machinery, tools, implements and appliances with which to work, but the employees may enter upon the discharge of their labor assuming these duties have been performed by the employer. (Fishburn v. International Harvester Co., 157 Kan. 43, 45, 46, 138 P. 2d 471, and cases therein cited. See also 4 Hatchers Kansas Digest [Rev. Ed.], Master & Servant, § 33, pp. 53, 54; West’s Kansas Digest, Master & Servant, § 101 [1].)
The deceased was not on equal terms with the defendant in estimating the hazards of his surroundings. Defendant had parked the wagon immediately under the high line and decedent had the right to assume defendant had furnished him a safe place to perform the work. Decedent was not obliged to institute an investigation for hidden menaces which could exist only by virtue of a breach of his master’s duty to him; therefore, he had a right to proceed and was not guilty of contributory negligence in doing so as a matter of *724law under the record in the instant case. Defendant testified that when he parked the wagon it did not occur to him the high line was there. This indicates even defendant did not appreciate the danger. Can deceased as a matter of law be held to a higher degree of care than defendant? Assuming deceased did know the wagon was parked below the electric power fine, each joint of the irrigation pipe was thirty feet long, and the wires were only twenty-one feet and eight inches from the ground, and assuming further deceased was aware of some danger, the plaintiff is not barred from recovery because deceased may have “temporarily forgotten” or may not have understood the full import of the combined conditions and the danger created by his employer, the defendant.
We stated in Wainscott v. Carlson Construction Co., 179 Kan. 410, 295 P. 2d 649:
“Mere knowledge of the danger of doing a certain act without a full appreciation of the risk involved is not sufficient to preclude a plaintiff from recovery, even though there may be added to the knowledge of danger a comprehension of some risk. Moreover, knowledge of the offending instrumentality does not constitute contributory negligence as a matter of law.” [Emphasis supplied.]
(See also Harvey v. Palmer, 179 Kan. 472, 296 P. 2d 1053; Nave v. Hixenbaugh, 180 Kan. 370, 304 P. 2d 482.)
We stated in Zumbrun v. City of Osawatomie, 135 Kan. 26, 10 P. 2d 3:
“But there is good authority for the view that temporary forgetfulness of a known danger does not necessarily constitute contributory negligence as a matter of law. In 45 C. J. 959 it is said:
“ ‘Expressions are found in many decisions to the effect that one who voluntarily exposes himself or his property to a known and appreciated danger is guilty of negligence; but while an important factor to be considered in all cases, it is generally held that the fact that one knew and appreciated, or in the exercise of ordinary care should have known and appreciated the danger and voluntarily encountered it, does not necessarily show negligence.’
“In 20 R. C. L. Ill it is said:
“ ‘When, however, the specific evidence submitted only goes to the extent of establishing knowledge of the defect, the question of his contributory negligence should not be withdrawn from the jury. Indeed, it can only be in rare cases, if ever, that the question becomes one of law. In other words, it is for the jury to determine whether knowledge of the physical characteristics of the offending instrumentality constituted a sufficient warning of peril to the plaintiff.’ ”
As to assumption of risk, in the interest of brevity it may be said that if the master does not perform the positive duty of providing the employee a safe place in which to work and such negligence is *725the proximate cause of the death, the doctrine of assumed risk is not applicable. (Plaster Co. v. Reedy, 74 Kan. 57, 65, 85 Pac. 824; Emporia v. Kowalski, 66 Kan. 64, 71, 71 Pac. 232; Schwarzschild v. Drysdale, 69 Kan. 119, 76 Pac. 441; Fishburn v. International Harvester Co., 157 Kan. 43, 44, 45, 138 P. 2d 471.)
The right of every individual citizen to a trial by jury is of ancient origin, and as now practiced is the result of a long process of development. Having early been regarded as a right, it was first guaranteed in England as such by the Magna Charta. It was introduced in this country by the English colonists who considered it a right under the English law; it is regarded as a basic and fundamental feature of American jurisprudence, and since the organization of. our government has been incorporated in the form of expressed guaranties in the constitutions of both state and Federal governments. It is a substantial and valuable right and should never be lightly denied. The law favors trial by jury, and the right should be carefully guarded against infringements (50 C. J. S., Juries, 722), and, as stated, a trial court in the exercise of its prerogatives in determining questions of law, only, in this type of case should not usurp the power and function of the jury in weighing evidence and passing upon questions of fact. Instances are relatively rare where facts are such that the court should say as a matter of law negligence alleged has been established.
I am of the opinion the judgment of the trial court should be reversed and a new trial ordered.
Fatzer, J., concurs in the foregoing dissenting opinion.