Johnson v. A. Schilling & Co.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment in favor of defendants entered upon a verdict directed by the court.

Appellant was a sheet-metal worker employed by East Bay Sheet Metal Company. That company had a contract to furnish the labor and materials for the installation of roofing material, insulation and flashing upon an existing roof on a building owned by respondent A. Schilling and Company. The building had a sloping corrugated iron roof with an 18 degree pitch and had been constructed in 1938. On December 21, 1953, appellant was instructed by his foreman to install flashings around a skylight on this roof. He had only been on the roof about one hour when he started to walk to the top of the roof to get certain tools and material. He took two or three steps, slightly missed his balance and attempted to put his hand on the frame of the skylight to steady himself. His hand missed the frame and rested on a glass pane of the skylight which was already cracked and which broke under his weight so that he fell through the broken skylight suffering the injuries of which he complains.

After the ease had been partly tried the trial judge indicated that appellant had not made a case against…