Ritzema v. Valley City Brick Co.
Michigan Supreme Court
Error to Kent; Wolcott, J. Case by Gertrude Ritzema, administratrix of the estate of John Ritzema, deceased, against the Valley City Brick Company for the negligent killing of plaintiff’s intestate. There was judgment for defendant on a verdict directed by the court, and plamtiff brings error. Defendant manufactures clay brick. It obtains its clay from a bank about 200 feet long and quite high, but how high is not shown. The clay is broken down from this bank into a pit.
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Error to Kent; Wolcott, J. Case by Gertrude Ritzema, administratrix of the estate of John Ritzema, deceased, against the Valley City Brick Company for the negligent killing of plaintiff’s intestate. There was judgment for defendant on a verdict directed by the court, and plamtiff brings error. Defendant manufactures clay brick. It obtains its clay from a bank about 200 feet long and quite high, but how high is not shown. The clay is broken down from this bank into a pit. At the proper distance in the pit from the foot of the bank is a railroad track. The clay is shoveled into the cars placed…
1Opinion of the CourtGrant, C. J.
(after stating the facts). The instruction was clearly correct. The dangers were obvious. The workmen were perfectly familiar with the fact that these chunks would roll down the bank when undermined, and they needed no superintendent or foreman to inform them of that fact, or to warn them against a danger which they knew as well as, and perhaps better than, any one. It was not the duty of the defendant to employ a man to watch and inform its workmen when there was danger. The case is ruled by Welch v. Brainard, 108 Mich. 38; Livingstone v. Glass Co., 146 Mich. 236.
Judgment affirmed.
Montgomery,…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Livingstone v. Saginaw Plate Glass Co.Michigan Supreme Court · 1906
- Welch v. BrainardMichigan Supreme Court · 1895
3Cited by5 opinions
- Cincinnati, N. O. & T. P. Ry. Co. v. HallCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · 1917
- Minkkinen v. Quincy Mining Co.Michigan Supreme Court · 1912
- Fredericks v. Fort Dodge Brick & Tile Co.Supreme Court of Iowa · 1911
- Brown v. LennaneMichigan Supreme Court · 1908
- Lesh v. Tamarack Mining Co.Michigan Supreme Court · 1915