Mr. And Mrs. Wilson Mowry, Jr. v. Mr. And Mrs. Ernest Schmoll

LAY, Circuit Judge.

Plaintiffs appeal from a directed verdict in a personal injury suit arising under Missouri law. In December 1966, plaintiff Wilson Mowry, Jr., was hired by the defendants, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Schmoll, to do farm labor on the latter’s farm located in Cass County, Missouri. In March 1967, plaintiff was hospitalized with what was diagnosed as acute disseminated histoplasmosis, a systemic disease caused by a fungus. Plaintiff alleged that the defendants failed to furnish “a reasonably safe work environment” and “failed to equip him with appropriate protective devices” and that…