Wise

Action for damages for personal injuries. Defendant, a corporation, is engaged in the business of selling hardware and other goods to the general public. It maintains a store in the city of Oakland, the main entrance to which faces on Washington Street, a busy retail district, and the merchandise in which it deals is received and delivered by trucks and other vehicles in front of such entrance. On December 23, 1925, about 12:30 P. M., a truck belonging to the Madewell Manufacturing Company, operated by one of its employees, arrived at the sidewalk elevator of defendant company with certain hardware to be delivered to it. The driver of the truck made his presence known to defendant’s receiving clerk, who was in the basement of defendant’s store at the time. Because of orders of the police department, requiring sidewalk elevators to be closed during the midday rush hours, and by reason of the fact that the streets were crowded with Christmas shoppers and also because certain employees of the company were absent, the driver was requested to put the goods on the sidewalk. Included in the merchandise so delivered was a pile of roof capping. It consisted of pieces of galvanized iron,…