Court Opinion

ID: 9681845
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:59:41.900795+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:36.192772
License: Public Domain

NUGENT,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
*640Plaintiff Harper’s injury occurred when his coverall pant’s leg became entangled in the rotating beaters of the Grain-O-Vator silage wagon he was operating. The entanglement instantly twisted and tore his coveralls from his body, flipped him out of the wagon tearing off his right arm.
Judge Gaitan in his majority opinion correctly describes plaintiff as an experienced farmer who knew his farm machinery and its operation. He also notes that plaintiff admitted knowledge of the risk of physical injury to one who comes in contact with the beaters. Then the majority opinion leaps over the gap in the evidence between (1) knowledge that the beaters presented a risk to the farmer’s body and limbs if they came in contact with the beaters and (2) knowledge that the beaters were a risk to the farmer’s limbs if only his clothing became entangled in them. That leap is necessary to the majority’s position because nothing in the evidence filled the gap. None of the evidence showed that plaintiff knew the risk, danger or likelihood of heaving his arm tom off if his pant’s leg became entangled in the beaters. Without such evidence, plaintiff Harper is in exactly the same position plaintiff Keener was in in Keener v. Dayton Electric Manufacturing Co., 445 S.W.2d 362 (Mo.1969). All the knowledge in the world about the operation of the GOY simply does not establish that plaintiff knew he could lose his arm if his pant’s leg came into contact with the beaters. Plaintiff’s knowledge that his hand or foot, arm or leg would certainly be mangled if he allowed them to get into the machinery does not translate into knowledge of the risk to his arm in getting his pant’s leg caught in the machinery. Plaintiff denied that he knew of that risk and no one adduced evidence to the contrary.
As Judge Gaitan points out, quoting Professors Prosser and Keeton, the defense of assumption of risk has knowledge of the risk as its watchword and first requirement. Unless, as Prosser and Keeton suggest, the evidence supports a finding that the plaintiff knew, comprehended and appreciated the danger he faced, the court may not submit the case to the jury on the defense theory of assumption of the risk. Missouri Approved Instruction 32.23 submits plaintiff’s assumption of the risk. Here the court gave MAI 32.23 in Instruction No. 18.
Accordingly, we should remand the case for a new trial.