Where a jury has found an employer in breach of common law and statutory duties for implementing an unsafe system of work, an apportionment of 85% contributory negligence against the employee for performing that system with excessive zeal or failing to choose a less strenuous method is not reasonably open. Trial judges directing juries on apportionment must instruct them to compare degrees of culpability and to bear in mind their prior finding of employer breach, and must direct them to guard against confusing contributory negligence with mere inadvertence or misjudgment inherent in a rough and ready system of work.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 5 later cases that cite this judgment.
1 of the 5 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.