Legal Opinion

Smith v. Lidgerwood Manufacturing Co.

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York

Decided July 1, 1900PublishedCited by 5 opinions

Appeal by the defendant, the Lidger wood Manufacturing Company, from a judgment of the Supreme Court in favor of the plaintiff, entered in the office of the clerk of the county of Kings on the 26th day of April, 1900, upon the verdict of a jury for $5,000, and also from an order entered in said clerk’s office on the 26th day of April, 1900, denying the defendant’s motion for a new trial made upon the minutes.

1Opinion of the Court

Willard Bartlett, J.:

“ If a master is engaged in a complex business that requires definite regulations for the safety and protection of his employees, a failure to adopt proper rules, as well as laxity in their enforcement, is negligence per se, and the establishment of defective or improper rules is such negligence as renders the master responsible for all injuries resulting therefrom.” (Wood Mast. & Serv. [2d ed.] § 403.)

The rule thus stated by Mr. Wood was approved by the Court of Appeals in Morgan v. Hudson River Ore & Iron Co. (133 N. Y. 666), and is to be regarded as correctly laying…

2Cited by5 opinions

Hamm v. Bettendorf Axle Co.Supreme Court of Iowa · 1910
Kellogg v. New York Edison Co.Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1907
Koszlowski v. American Locomotive Co.Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1904
Smith v. Lidgerwood Manufacturing Co.Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1901
Kapella v. Nichols Chemical Co.Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York · 1903