(DOWNLOAD) "Mcdonald v. Hickman" by Supreme Court of Arkansas ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Mcdonald v. Hickman
- Author : Supreme Court of Arkansas
- Release Date : January 10, 1972
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 52 KB
Description
This is an action for personal injuries sustained by the appellee, Jerry W. Hickman, when he fell into an unguarded open stair
well in a house that was being constructed for one of the appellants, Walter McDonald (or McDonald). The other appellant,
also a defendant below, is Gerald Rooks, who was McDonald's chief partner. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff,
fixing his total damages at $17,500 and apportioning the negligence in the ratio of 25% to the plaintiff and 75% to the defendants.
For reversal the appellants contend that they were entitled to a directed verdict, on the ground that Hickman's negligence
exceeded their negligence as a matter of law, and, alternatively, that the court erred in not submitting to the jury their
asserted defense of assumption or risk. We find no merit in either contention. First: Comparative negligence. On the day of the accident Hickman, a employee of a rural electric cooperative company, had
gone to the unfinished house to determine what kind of circuit breakers would be needed. Rooks escorted Hickman and another
co-op employee into the house. While Hickman was standing in a somewhat dark windowless hall, examining the electrical panel,
he stepped to his left and fell eight or nine feet to the concrete basement. He actually fell through a four-by-eighteen-foot
opening in the upper floor, where a staircase was to be installed later. The opening was unprotected. Hickman testified that
Rooks later said that he should have told Hickman about the hole being there.
 "Mcdonald v. Hickman" by Supreme Court of Arkansas ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}