J. S. Young Co. v. State Ex Rel. Kabat

Burke, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. ' 'This is the defendants’ appeal from a judgment entered against them in the Baltimore City Court in a suit of the State to 'the use of the widow and children of Vincent Nab-at, who was found dead in the waters of the Baltimore Harbor.on the night of December 14th, 1909. The defendants operate a manufacturing plant in the City of Baltimore in which were installed a number of boilers. The deceased was a fireman in charge of one of these boilers, and had been in the employ of the defendants in that capacity for about twenty-five years. Attached to the boiler in ljis, charge on the night in. question was an iron pipe which extended through the wall of the defendant’s building.

At ²⁴⁹ or near the point where this pipe emerged from the wall there was placed a stop-cock, or valve, which was designed and used to relieve at certain times the pressure of steam upon the boiler. This was done by opening the valve. From the point where the stop-cock was placed there was a short pipe running to the ground where it connected with another pipe which lead to the waters of the harbor, a distance variously estimated from three and a half to twelve feet. There is evidence in the record tending to prove that the ground between the wall of the defendant’s factory and the water was rough and uneven, and there being no light or guard rails along the harbor, the place at the time Kabat met his death was dangerous.

The declaration contained three counts in which the defendants were charged with three specific acts of negligence; first, in assigning the deceased “to work upon and about an engine and boiler, the exhaust pipes of which were run from the premises of the defendants over to and in the water of the harbor of Baltimore, about which said exhaust pipes there was no protection, guard or shield to prevent a person having occasion to be about the same from falling into said water”; second, that the deceased “was put to work upon and about an engine and boiler, the exhaust pipes of which were run from the premises of the defendants over to and in the water of the harbor of Baltimore, which exhaust pipes the defendants knew, or by the exercise of ordinary care on their part might have known to be dangerous, unsafe and unfit for use, because the same were defective and worn out and not capable of the uses to which they were put, and the cock at the end of said exhaust pipes was defective and known to the defendants to be defective, and of which dangerous and unsafe conditions the said Vincent Kabat was not advised, and could not have known by the exercise of ordinary care on his part,” and third, in requiring him in the performance of his duty to ²⁵⁰ relieve tbe steam from the boiler through an exhaust pipe which was “old, worn, in bad condition and defectively constructed and installed by unskillful and incompetent employees, all of which were known to the defendant, but of which Vincent Kabat was in ignorance.” The first count alleged that as the deceased attempted to turn the stop cock so as to relieve the boiler and pipes from the pressure of steam “and in the exercise of due and ordinary care in so doing said pipe suddenly burst from an explosion of steam accumulated in the same whereby the said Vincent Kabat, husband and father as aforesaid, was shocked and stunned and forced by said explosion into the water of said harbor of Baltimore, whereby he was killed or drowned.” The second count charged that “on or about the 14th day of December, 1909, while the said Vincent Kabat was so assigned to work upon and about said engine and boiler and exhaust pipes without warning or notice to him, said exhaust pipes burst and exploded from an explosion of steam accumulated in the same, whereby the said Vincent Kabat, husband and father as aforesaid, was shocked, stunned and forced by said explosion into the water of said harbor of Baltimore whereby he was killed or drowned.” In the third count it is alleged that by reason of its old, worn and bad condition known to the defendants but unknown to the deceased the pipe burst and exploded whereby Kabat was shocked and stunned to such an extent as to cause his death. The issues to be tried were presented by the plea of not guilty. At the conclusion of the testimony offered on both sides the plaintiff submitted one prayer which was on the measure of damages. This prayer was granted.

The defendants filed a special exception to this prayer upon the ground that there was no evidence in the case that the death of Vincent Kabat was due to any negligence on their part. This exception was overruled by the Oourt. The Court granted ²⁵¹ an instruction of its own by wbicb tbe jury were told that if they found from the evidence that the deceased was in position of safety at any time after the violent explosion or escape of steam mentioned in the testimony, they should find their verdict for the defendants. The defendants submitted three prayers, the granting of either one of which would have defeated a recovery by the plaintiffs.

These prayers were refused. The record presents but one bill of exception taken by the defendants to the action of the Court upon the prayers and the special exception filed thereto by the defendants. The real question in the case relates to the propriety of the rejection of the defendants’ three prayers,