Jeffrey Manufacturing Company v. Ed

LAWSON, Justice. This is a suit to recover damages for personal injuries brought in the Circuit Court of Tuscaloosa County
by Ed Cleveland Hannah against The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, a corporation, T. J. Hill, John Doe and Richard Roe. The
plaintiff, in open court, struck John Doe and Richard Roe as parties defendant. There was a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff
and against The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company. Judgment was in accord with the verdict. The defendant T. J. Hill, who was
exonerated by the jury's verdict, was not an agent, servant or employee of The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, which will be
referred to hereafter as Jeffrey. Its motion for new trial having been overruled, Jeffrey has appealed to this court. The case was tried on Count 2 of the amended complaint, which was challenged by demurrer taking the point that it failed
to show any duty owed the plaintiff by the defendant. Count 2 alleges that the plaintiff at the time he was injured was at
a place where he had a right to be on the premises of his employer, The Central Foundry Company, a corporation, hereafter
referred to as Central, where the agents, servants or employees of Jeffrey were engaged in carrying out Jeffrey's contract
with Central to install certain heavy machinery; and that plaintiff sustained his injury while he was rightfully at work in
assisting the agents, servants or employees of Jeffrey in the operation and installation of the heavy machinery. Such averments,
in our opinion, sufficiently show a duty on the part of Jeffrey to exercise due care not to injure the plaintiff. See Tennessee
Coal, Iron and R. Co. v. Davis, 194 Ala. 149, 69 So. 544; Alabama Utilities Co. v. Champion, 230 Ala. 263, 160 So. 346.