Gates v. . State
New York Court of Appeals
Appeal from an award of the Board of Claims, made December 19, 1888. The appellant claimed to recover against the state for personal injuries received from the falling of a bridge over the Oswego canal, in the work of repairing which, at the time, he was engaged. His regular employment had been that' of an ordinary laborer upon one of the state scows on the canal.
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Appeal from an award of the Board of Claims, made December 19, 1888. The appellant claimed to recover against the state for personal injuries received from the falling of a bridge over the Oswego canal, in the work of repairing which, at the time, he was engaged. His regular employment had been that' of an ordinary laborer upon one of the state scows on the canal. The bridge had been reported to the canal commissioners, in the year previous to the accident, to be structurally unsound and in a very dangerous condition. The foreman of the state scow, upon which the claimant was working when he…
1Opinion of the CourtGray, J.
If this claim might be disposed of upon its merits, there would be no difficulty in establishing the liability of the state in damages. The claimant was a mere laborer, in the employ of the state upon ordinary canal work, and when, in obedience to orders, he proceeded to labor upon the bridge, he was not only inexperienced, but he was ignorant of its actual condition. He cannot be said to have assumed any of those risks which were incidental to such work from the existence of the serious defects in the bridge structure. He was entitled to believe that the place assigned to him for the…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Foot v. StevensNew York Supreme Court · 1837
- McDougall v. . State of New YorkNew York Court of Appeals · 1888
3Cited by66 opinions
- Oswego Syracuse R.R. Co. v. . StateNew York Court of Appeals · 1919
- Buckles v. . State of New YorkNew York Court of Appeals · 1917
- Sweeney v. . City of New YorkNew York Court of Appeals · 1919
- Munro v. . State of New YorkNew York Court of Appeals · 1918
- Utah Construction Co. v. State Highway CommissionWyoming Supreme Court · 1933
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