Court Overturns Nonsuit in Ballard Mill Fatality
State Supreme Court rules that a yard boss is not a 'fellow servant,' reviving a lawsuit for a worker killed in a mill accident.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The supreme court today rendered a decision in the case of Francisea Zintek et al., appellants, vs. Stetson Mill Company, respondent, from King county; reversed. This action was brought by plaintiffs to recover damages of the defendant for negligently causing the death of Alastak, an employe at its mill at Ballard. The superior court nonsuited the plaintiffs on the ground that the deceased and M. C. Nelson, under whom he was working, were fellow servants and because no negligence had been proven against the defendant. The court holds that the evidence shows that Nelson was the yard boss and not a fellow servant, and that it was through his negligence that the lumber was piled so improperly that it fell on the deceased.
“The court holds that the evidence shows that Nelson was the yard boss and not a fellow servant.”
This legal victory was a significant step in clarifying industrial liability in Washington's early timber industry. It highlights the brutal reality of 'fellow servant' laws, which were frequently used to protect owners from the consequences of workplace deaths.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.