Sikes v. Jones

SAM A. BEATTY, Retired Justice.

The plaintiff, James Sikes, appeals from a judgment based on a directed verdict for the defendant, R.E. Jones, granted by the trial court at the conclusion of Sikes’s case. We affirm.

Jones employed Sikes as a farm laborer. In the fall of 1991, Jones instructed Sikes to remove a tire and rim from a livestock trailer. The trailer was parked on wet grass. After the lug nuts were removed, the wheel still could not be removed. Jones then instructed Sikes to try to remove the wheel by striking it with a sledgehammer. Sikes struck the wheel several times, and in the…