Reid

In this action for wrongful death brought, by the widow and three minor children of an agricultural worker, defendants David Wallace Beid and Don Dale appeal from a judgment entered upon a jury verdict in favor of plaintiffs in the sum of $40,000.

*220 Decedent was employed on the Kitigawa Ranch as a “pusher” or “straw boss.” Kitigawa ordered fertilizer from a chemical company which contracted with defendant Dale to haul it to the ranch. On April 9, 1964, defendant Reid, an employee of Dale, drove the latter’s equipment to the chemical company, picked up a load of fertilizer, and left to deliver it, accompanied by one Cuesta, a chemical company employee who was to show Reid where the deliveries were to be made.

The Dale equipment consisted of a tractor, a flatbed semitrailer and a flatbed pull-trailer connected with the semitrailer by a tongue, leaving a space of about 4% feet between the two trailers. The tractor was equipped with an adjustable mirror on each side and a handhold behind each door of the cab for use in climbing into or behind the cab, but it was not equipped with handholds or safety rails along the back of the cab. The cab had a rear window measuring about 8…