Hamilton v. O'DONNELL

SNELL, Judge.

Plaintiff, Larry Hamilton, and defendant, James O’Donnell, are both farmers in Humboldt County. Over the years, they established a practice of exchanging help on their farm work. This practice did not involve the payment of wages for each other’s help. Rather, the parties kept a mental accounting of time spent and would get together for dinner and a night out with their wives at the end of the year.

In March of 1978, defendant asked plaintiff to help haul soybeans. While the plaintiff was helping load the beans, he fell from a plank that was across the top of the bin in which the…