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Mary Robinska vs. Lyman Mills

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court1899-10-20
174 Mass. 432

Summary

Holding. The court sustained the defendant's exceptions and rejected the plaintiff's claim, holding that an employer is not obligated to warn of dangers posed by properly functioning machinery that are visible to a mature worker who chooses to insert her hand into a moving machine without first ascertaining what lies within it.

Mary Robinska, a recent immigrant from Warsaw who did not speak English, sought damages for injuries sustained while working at Lyman Mills. She alleged that the defendant failed to warn her of dangers associated with a cotton-cleaning machine. While learning the trade, she was instructed to clean the back of the machine with a brush. A concealed rotating cylinder covered with needles caused her injury when she inserted her fingers into the machine to remove cotton lint that would not come off with brushing alone.

The court rejected Robinska's claim that the employer had a duty to warn of the danger. The court reasoned that an employer's obligation to warn of machinery hazards applies primarily to inexperienced young workers or when defects are genuinely concealed from view. The court found that Robinska, as a mature adult, could have observed the cylinder had she looked carefully, and the court refused to impose liability for her decision to place her hand into a moving machine without first investigating what she might encounter. The fact that she did not speak English did not create special protective duties on the employer's part.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Scope of employer duty to warn of machinery hazards
  • Effect of worker's lack of English-language proficiency on employer liability
  • Visibility of danger versus plaintiff's failure to observe
  • Whether mature workers can be held to different standards than inexperienced or young workers

Procedural posture

The defendant filed exceptions, which the court sustained, effectively dismissing the plaintiff's action for personal injuries.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

Holmes, C. J.

This is an action for personal injuries suffered by the plaintiff while, as she alleges, in the defendant’s employ. The plaintiff had got leave to come into the defendant’s mill in order to learn how to work. She was not paid, but we shall assume for the purposes of decision that she rendered enough services to the defendant to warrant the inference that she had the rights of a regular employee. She had come recently from Warsaw, did not speak English, and had no other knowledge of machinery than what she had got in the few days during which she had been learning. The machine upon which she was hurt was a machine for cleaning cotton. She was told to clean the back of it, and had a brush for the purpose. It is enough to say that some way in from the back of the machine there was a cylinder covered with needles, revolving away from the plaintiff and near to the edge of what was called a nipper plate above and parallel to it. The nipper plate rose and fell to within about one sixty-fourth of an inch from the cylinder. The greater part of this cylinder and the whole of two others below it and nearer to the plaintiff were concealed by a cover, so that only the top of this cylinder could be seen. The plaintiff said that she did not see that, and did not know that the cylinder had needles on it or was in motion. The machine was going, however, and making a good deal of noise. According to the plaintiff’s account there was cotton lint in this place which would not come off when she brushed, and so she put in her fingers and got caught. She seeks to recover on the ground that she should have been warned of the danger.

It seems to us that the plaintiff sets the defendant’s duty too high. There is no suggestion that the machinery was improper, and there are limits to the obligation of an employer to point out the dangers of proper machinery. The obligation is imposed mainly for the sake of the young who have not the experience or power to look out for themselves which are to be expected in adults, or, in the case of adults, where there are concealed defects. The plaintiff was mature, and the fact that she did not speak our language gave her-no special rights. The defendant was entitled to assume that she knew the danger of such a combination as we have described, (Lowcock v. Franklin Paper Co. 169 Mass. 313); and although she says that she did not know that it was there, she could have seen it if she had looked with any care. If she saw fit to put her hand into the recesses of a going machine without knowing what she would meet, she cannot hold other people answerable for the consequences. The defendant was not bound to anticipate and warn against such conduct. In De Costa v. Hargraves Mills, 170 Mass. 375, the plaintiff was told to remove clogs from a machine which was in motion. An experienced man could do it while the machine was in motion, and the picker boss did so in the plaintiff’s presence, so that there was color for the argument that the plaintiff was directed to do what he did. If he was directed to do it, then, as the danger was more or less hidden, it was possible to contend that he had been led into a trap. But there are no such circumstances here. See Ford v. Mount Tom Sulphite Pulp Co. 172 Mass. 544, 545. Exceptions sustained.