Court Opinion

ID: 9559642
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:32:46.447417+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:11:27.350607
License: Public Domain

*238LANGDON, J., Dissenting.
I dissent. The majority opinion holds that a duty of care was owed to plaintiff, and the only remaining question is whether the jury were justified in finding a violation of such duty, that is, in finding that the dangerous condition of the ladder was a result of negligence on the part of defendant. The only defect was in the rung. It was made of oak, a wood generally approved for the use to which it was put, but the particular piece was “brash” or brittle, and incapable of supporting any substantial weight. It had been purchased by defendant from a concern in Arkansas as part of a carload lot of over 100,000 rungs. The evidence shows that less than a dozen rungs out of the carload bad been taken out and specially examined for defects, and that the only other testing was by the observation of the workmen who assembled the ladders. If they felt, in handling a rung, that it was too light, a sign of brashness, they would discard it. The rungs of the assembled ladders were also struck with a hammer to ascertain defects through the sound. It therefore appears that no scientific test was made of each rung, either prior to or after its insertion in the ladder, the matter being left to the ordinary observation of the workmen. Whether this constitutes negligence depends upon an answer to two questions: Could the workman accurately determine brashness in wood through observation; and could an expert discover it by some reasonable and not impracticable test? In view of the settled rule limiting the power of an appellate court to reach a conclusion on the factual question of negligence different from that reached by the jury, I am of the opinion that the evidence, coupled with legitimate inferences, makes out a case for the plaintiff. Plaintiff’s witnesses, properly qualified as experts, testified that the ordinary mechanic or mill workman could not, by simple observation, determine the strength of the wood; and that an expert, by observation of the ends, as cut, could make such a determination. Whether the cross-examination of these witnesses weakened their testimony is also, of course, a question for the jury.
In the construction of an article which, when used, may if defective become highly dangerous to human life, I think the evidence shows too low a degree of care. Conceding *239that the jury may not arbitrarily set a standard beyond that recognized in the community, it does not follow that the customary practice of the defendant, which indicates some degree of care, sufficiently meets the standard. The danger to human life involved in the use of a defective extension ladder was such as to require a higher degree, and the jury’s verdict therefore finds support in the evidence. (See 20 R. C. L., sec. 18; 19 Cal. Jur. 579.)
The defects in the instructions were all cured by proper qualifying instructions, and I cannot agree that the jury were in any way confused by them as to the simple issue of negligence presented by the facts.
I think the judgment should be affirmed.
Curtis, J., and Seawell, J., concurred.
Rehearing denied.