Aitken v. Starr

661 P.2d 498, 99 N.M. 598
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 1, 1983
Docket5752
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 661 P.2d 498 (Aitken v. Starr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aitken v. Starr, 661 P.2d 498, 99 N.M. 598 (N.M. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinions

OPINION

HENDLEY, Judge.

Plaintiff brought a personal injury action to recover damages for injuries he received when he came into contact with an electrical line. There were four groups of defendants: Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM), the Starrs and McCormicks (present owners of the property), the Gianninis (past owners of the property), and the Chavezes (owners of the trailer plaintiff was on when injured). The trial court granted motions for summary judgment to the Starrs and McCormicks, the Gianninis, and the Chavezes. The trial court also granted PNM a partial summary judgment pertaining to that part of plaintiff’s claim which relied on the doctrine of strict liability. Plaintiff appealed and the Chavezes filed a cross-appeal. Plaintiff settled with the Chavezes. Plaintiff did not appeal the partial summary judgment granted to PNM. The issue on appeal relates to the summary judgments which were granted to the Starrs and McCormicks and the Gianninis.

Before reaching the merits of the appeal, a motion was filed prior to submission to strike PNM’s “Answer Brief.” PNM’s brief is in support of plaintiff’s appeal — that the trial court be reversed as to the Starrs and McCormicks and the Gianninis. PNM did not file a notice of appeal or cross-appeal. N.M.R.Civ.App. 3(b), N.M. S.A.1978, states:

(b) Review of error against appellee. If errors have been committed against an appellee and the same have been preserved for review and presented by points concisely stated, an appellee may, without taking a cross-appeal, obtain review of such errors for the purpose of enabling the appellate court to affirm, notwithstanding errors committed against the appellant, or to remand the cause for a new trial.

In Frederick v. Younger Van Lines, 74 N.M. 320, 393 P.2d 438 (1964), under the predecessor rule, which was almost identical, our Supreme Court explained the rule as follows:

Rule 17(2) permits review of rulings adverse to appellee which need be considered only in the event the appeal is found to have merit, but because of which it is contended the case should nevertheless be affirmed. To obtain a review under Rule 17(2) no notice of cross-appeal is required, but merely the making of a point in the appellee’s brief of the claimed error together with argument thereon. (Emphasis added.)

Accordingly, PNM does not meet the requirement of the rule. The Clerk of the Court of Appeals is directed to strike the brief from the record.

Review Standard

Goodman v. Brock, 83 N.M. 789, 498 P.2d 676 (1972), states that the burden is on the defendants to show an absence of a genuine issue of fact or that they are entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law for some other reason. After defendants have made a prima facie showing of entitlement, the burden shifts to plaintiff to show there are genuine issues of fact and defendants are not entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. The inferences which plaintiff is entitled to have drawn from all matters properly before and considered by the trial court must be reasonable. We review the affidavits and depositions of record in light of the foregoing.

Facts

Prior to August 21, 1979, the Gianninis owned the Paradise Acres Mobile Home Park. On that date they sold the trailer park to the Starrs and the McCormicks.

In March, 1979, the Chavezes purchased a 70-ft. mobile home. In that same month, the home was set up in the Paradise Acres Mobile Home Park. As the Gianninis were not home, Nancy Starr, a relative of the Gianninis, instructed the men who were moving the trailer for the Chavezes to place the trailer in Space No. 27. Parallel to the south boundary of the Paradise Acres Mobile Home Park high voltage wires, owned and maintained by PNM, were stretched between wooden poles. It appears that the trailer was parked in such a manner as to be partially underneath the electrical lines and partially within PNM’s easement.

Nancy Starr, upon becoming one of the owners of the park, tried to make regular inspections of the park. She had walked along the south side of the property once or twice. Mrs. Starr testified in her deposition that she did not believe the Chavezes’ mobile home was located in such a manner that it was under the power lines. She thought that the power lines were “like in her [Chavez’] yard.” Mrs. Starr had noticed that some of the power lines were running through trees and had assumed the responsibility of calling in a “tree man” to inspect the trees to see if they needed to be topped. She then called PNM to top the trees. The Starrs had also lived in Space 27 for a short time.

After moving into the park, the Chavezes put up three C.B. antennas — one, approximately 40 feet high on the east side of the trailer, is the one involved in this suit. When Mr. Chavez put up the antenna, he encountered no difficulties with the power lines. Prior to the date of plaintiff’s injury, the antenna and the power lines had never come into contact with each other.

The antenna involved in the accident weighed 40 to 60 pounds and was approximately 46 to 48 feet high. It had three radial arms at the top which were approximately 12 inches in length. About 15 feet from the top of the antenna were 3 or 4 radial arms that were approximately 8 to 12 feet in length.

There was conflicting evidence as to the height of PNM’s lines at the time of the accident. Testimony shows that the height of the lines was somewhere between 6 inches to 20 feet from the top of the trailer. The lines were not hidden from Aitken’s view.

On December 18, 1979, at approximately 4:00 p.m., Aitken was injured when the antenna he was carrying came into contact with the 7,200 volt electrical distribution line. Aitken and Gene Ryan had been removing the antennas and skirting from the Chavezes’ mobile home in preparation for a move. The Chavezes had been evicted from the trailer park. Aitken and Ryan had started work at about 10:00 a.m.

Aitken knew the power lines were over one end of the trailer. He recognized that they were dangerous. He had noticed them on previous occasions. He had also gone to that end of the trailer that morning to tell Ryan something and, at that time, said he made a mental note about having to stay away from the lines. He attempted to avoid the lines, but struck them nevertheless. He was aware of the danger of electrical lines. He had worked around power lines as a construction worker. He realized that the lines were probably high voltage.

He testified in his deposition that he was carrying the antenna horizontally to the ground and was distracted when he looked down to make sure he was not going to trip over the vent pipes in the roof of the trailer, when he was shocked. There was other testimony that Aitken, while on the roof, was holding the antenna vertically with most of it over his head with Ryan holding the other end on the ground; that Aitken hollered at Ryan to let go because they were getting too close to the power lines; that Ryan let go and Aitken did not, and that the antenna fell into the wires.

There were two lines on the poles running by the trailer.

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Aitken v. Starr
661 P.2d 498 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
661 P.2d 498, 99 N.M. 598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aitken-v-starr-nmctapp-1983.