Spore

The action was instituted by plaintiff to recover damages resultant from personal injuries sustained by him.

At the outset the action was against appellant and others. At the trial a judgment of nonsuit was ordered as to the remaining defendants and the case proceeded and judgment was entered against appellant alone. The case was tried by a jury. In setting forth such of the facts as may be necessary, we will avoid all reference to any of the original defendants and treat the case throughout as against the appealing defendant.

Appellant was the owner of a certain building in the city of Oakland. This building was of more than one story. The upper stories were leased for apartment house purposes, and such business actually carried on therein.

The ground floor was leased to different tenants, each of whom was engaged in separate and individual business. Running along the back of the building was a board walk, which walk extended from the front to the rear of the apartment house. Several of the rooms or stores on the main floor had back doors leading to the board walk and the tenants used these doors, and the walk was used by all of these tenants. The board walk consisted of two…