Ulmen v. Schwieger Et Al‪.‬

Personal Injuries ? Automobile Accident on State Highway Under Construction ? Absence of Barricade ? Contractual Duty of Contractor not Delegable to Independent Contractor ? Liability of Contractor ? Contributory Negligence ? Insufficiency of Evidence ? Instructions ? Proper Refusal. Personal Injuries ? Master and Servant ? Non-liability of Employer for Acts of Independent Contractor ? Exceptions to Rule. 1. The general rule of non-liability of an employer for wrongful or negligent acts of an independent contractor is subject to these, among other, exceptions: Where the work is intrinsically dangerous or hazardous, and where the former has specifically assumed the duty to guard the public against danger. Same ? Automobiles ? Highway Construction ? Liability of Contractor for Negligence of Independent Contractor. 2. Contention that the first of the above-mentioned exceptions does not apply where the work consists of the construction of a new highway where none existed before, held inept in the instant case, where the new construction for some distance followed the course of an old highway and was but an extension thereof. Same ? Duty of Highway Contractor to Erect Barricades not Delegable to Independent Contractor. 3. The duty of a state highway contractor to guard the public from danger by the erection of suitable barricades, specifically assumed by him under the contract with knowledge of the inherently dangerous character of the work, was one which he could not delegate to an alleged independent contractor entrusted with the construction of a culvert across the highway. Same ? Automobile Accident Due to Failure to Erect Barrier ? Liability of Principal Contractor. 4. Under the above rules, held, that where a motorist found no barrier across a state highway in course of construction where it had the appearance of having been completed and in regular use as such, and while driving thereon at a speed from twenty-five to thirty miles an hour ran into an unguarded ditch extending across the highway in which a concrete culvert had been placed by a subcontractor, the principal contractor was properly held liable for injuries sustained.