LIFT FATALITY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 142, 20 June 1927, Page 10

LIFT FATALITY

CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION

A fatality that occurred on 13th October, 1926, when John Willis, a storeman, lost his life in a lift accident, had a sequel in the Supreme Court today, when Ivy Hollingshead Willis, his widow, claimed .£2OOO under the Deaths by Accident Compensation Act, 1908, on behalf of herself and her four children. :

The statement of claim set out that tho deceased, who left four young children, at "the time of his death was employed by Messrs. A. R. Hislop (Ltd.), Farish street, who conducted their business in Howden's Birildings, owned by the defendants. Tho deceased and a fellow-worker, Phillip Allen, were killed through their heads ;being pinned between a goods lift and a crossbar. The plaintiff alleged that, the lift got out of control/ and she aJlegei negligence on the part of : the defendants in that the lift was in a dangerous and unsafe condition. It was alleged that tho lift was fitted an automatic switch, for the purpose of having attached to. it a slack cable switch to e":op the lift if it g6t out of control, but no slack cable switch had been installed. She further alleged that tho guide shoea beneath the lift' were not working efficiently. She claimed £2000 from tho defendants, David Brown Howden, Evelyn May Vance, Amy Niblctt, and Ada Lily Howden. The defendants generally denied the allegations, and in particular, denied that thei accident was duo to negligence, and said that ithe lift was in a safe condition for use. They'denied that tho guide shoes were not efficient. Further, they said that there was contributory negligence on the part of the deceased, who, they said, failed to take precautions to ascertain whether the lift was in motion, and without taking precautions leaned over a protecting bar placed across the entrance to the well, thereby placing himself in such a position that the accident became inevitable.

Mr. P. J. O'Regan appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. A. Gray, K.C., with him Mr. C. A. L. Treadwell, for the defendants.

After medical evidence had been given, the Court and tho jury adjourned to view tho scene of tho accident.