Christy

Plaintiff sued for damages for personal injuries. The state of California intervened as plaintiff’s employer, but it was stipulated that but one award should be made and the cause went to trial before a jury; A ver diet for plaintiff was returned in the sum of $55,000 and the defendants appeal upon typewritten transcripts.

On October 18, 1927, plaintiff was acting under the employment of the state of California as resident engineer in charge of the construction of a state highway bridge acrossLos Positos Creek in Alameda County by the defendant Ulrich under a state contract. In the course of construction scaffolding and wooden runways were erected by the contractor to facilitate the construction of reinforced concrete pillars and “bents”. These runways were made of planks approximately two inches thick and eight inches wide laid upon stringers about eight or ten feet apart. On the day stated, while plaintiff was inspecting the progress of the workmen in pouring the tamping concrete in “Bent No. 3”, the “tamper” which was being used in that work broke. One of the workmen said that there was another tamper on the cross-runway at “Bent No. 2”, and plaintiff volunteered to get this…