Owen v. Rheem Manufacturing Co.

Action for damages. Plaintiff was employed by the United States government as a laborer in Ontario, at a branch warehouse of the San Bernardino Air Depot. On May 10, 1943, he was engaged, with others, in stacking steel drums in the warehouse yard. They were being removed from railroad boxcars. After unloading three carloads, plaintiff’s foreman directed plaintiff and a fellow workman to open the door of a fourth boxcar which was loaded with drums. These steel drums were manufactured by defendant company under a government contract and were loaded by the company’s agents, at its plant at South…