Berry v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad

273 F.2d 572, 2 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 879
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 6, 1960
DocketNo. 7954
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 273 F.2d 572 (Berry v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Berry v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, 273 F.2d 572, 2 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 879 (4th Cir. 1960).

Opinion

BOREMAN, Circuit Judge.

M. Melinda Berry, Administratrix of the estate of her son, Robert H. Berry, instituted this action against Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company, hereinafter sometimes called “Railroad Company”, and Carolina Power & Light [575]*575Company, hereinafter sometimes called “Power Company”, to recover damages for the wrongful death of her son allegedly due to the negligence of both defendants.

Railroad Company and Power Company joined in a motion for summary judgment based upon the pleadings, documents and proceedings in the case. Included among the pleadings and proceedings were the original complaint, amended complaint, second amended complaint, answers of the defendants to the complaints, a statement of Calvin O. Berry (who is hereinafter more fully identified) furnished to defendants’ counsel by plaintiff’s counsel, interrogatories propounded to plaintiff by the Power Company and answers thereto, interrogatories propounded by plaintiff to the Power Company and the Railroad Company and their answers thereto, interrogatories propounded to Wilhoit and St. Paul Mercury Indemnity Company (the connection of the latter with this case being hereinafter disclosed) and St. Paul’s answers to interrogatories, a request by Power Company to plaintiff for admissions and plaintiff’s responsive admissions, a plat, photographs, two affidavits of Calvin 0. Berry dated June 6, 1959, and a deposition of the same Calvin 0. Berry taken January 31, 1957.

In its order granting the motion for summary judgment, the District Court stated:

“After consideration of the evidence introduced on behalf of the parties, it is my opinion that it is perfectly clear that no issue of fact is involved and that inquiry into the facts is not desirable to clarify the application of the law. There does not appear to be any dispute as to the evidentiary facts in this case or as to the conclusion to be drawn therefrom. It is quite clear what the truth is and no genuine issue remains for trial. In my opinion there is no evidence of any actionable negligence upon which the plaintiff can recover against the defendants. * * * ”

Robert H. Berry, sixteen years of age, was employed by Wilhoit Steel Erectors, hereinafter referred to as “Wilhoit”. On December 3, 1955, he was directed by his employer to accompany his brother, another Wilhoit employee, Calvin 0. Berry, to Revels Station, near Florence, South Carolina, to assist in unloading steel from a gondola railroad car which had been “spotted” on a railroad siding. The steel was consigned to Vulcraft Fabricators, hereinafter referred to as “Vul-craft”.

At Revels Station, the main lino of the Railroad Company runs in a south-north direction and at that point there is a siding consisting of two sidetracks. The second of these sidetracks, the one here involved, angles off from the first sidetrack in a northeasterly direction toward and then alongside a high voltage electric line of the Power Company. At the point where the second branches off from the first sidetrack, the distance between the track and the power line is about 70 feet. This distance decreases to approximately 27 feet 8.4 inches at the point where the railroad car was spotted for unloading.

Wilhoit had dispatched a crane mounted on a truck to the point of the unloading operations. Vulcraft provided the truck into which the steel was to be transferred from the railroad car. Easy access to the railroad car was had for the crane truck and the Vulcraft truck from a public highway in close proximity to the scene of operations. Calvin 0. Berry, who was several years older than his brother Robert, and who had had two and one-half to three years’ experience with Wilhoit, was in charge of crane operations. The two Berry brothers were the only Wilhoit employees on the job although other help was provided by employees of Vulcraft.

For the unloading operation, the crane was positioned alongside the gondola railroad car. The Vulcraft truck was placed on the other side of the crane so that the crane was between the railroad car and the Vulcraft truck. Both the crane and the Vulcraft truck were be[576]*576tween the railroad car and the power line. So positioned, the crane could hoist the steel from the railroad car, swing its load in the direction of the power line, toward and over the Vulcraft truck, and deposit the steel in the truck.

Upon arriving at the job site with the crane, Calvin 0. Berry carefully surveyed the surroundings, observed the power line and, with Robert Berry’s help, removed a fifteen foot section of the boom of the crane so that the top of the boom, measured perpendicularly, was 28 feet from the ground. His reason for so doing, as stated in his deposition, was to reduce the danger of the operation and to keep the boom of the crane away from the electric wires. The crane truck was equipped with four outriggers designed to afford additional stability and to keep the crane truck from tipping as heavy loads were handled by the boom of the crane. Two of the outriggers at the rear of the crane truck were placed in position and blocked up but the two outriggers at the front were not used.

The crane and the Vulcraft truck having been so positioned, the unloading operation began. Calvin Berry, operating the crane, hooked on to a bundle of steel weighing between four and five tons, hoisted it from the railroad car, pivoted the crane in a counterclockwise direction toward the truck and lowered the steel to a level where Robert Berry and a Vulcraft employee, both of whom were standing on the ground, could steady it preparatory to depositing it in the Vulcraft truck. As the steel was being lowered it was swaying and Robert placed his hand on it, but the swaying of the load caused the crane to tilt toward the power line so that the steel cable running from the end of the boom to the hoisted steel came in contact with the power line. Robert was electrocuted from the charge of electricity carried through the cable of the crane into the steel and through his body into the ground.

The power line carried 22,000 volts between any two of the energized conductors and the voltage was 13,000 between any one energized conductor and the ground. The distance from the contacted electric wire to the ground was some 28 feet 3 inches and, as before stated, the distance on the ground from the near rail of the sidetrack to a point directly under the contacted wire was some 27 feet 8.4 inches. It appears that the railroad sidetrack was constructed in the year 1952 but the power line was constructed and maintained for many years prior thereto. It further appears that Calvin Berry was unfamiliar with Revels Station which was in a rural area; that upon arriving at the scene he observed the electric line and, even though he did not know its voltage, realized that a line carrying as much as 110 volts of electricity was dangerous; and that the cable would not have come in contact with the power line had the crane not tilted.

It is alleged in the plaintiff’s second amended complaint and admitted in answers that the plaintiff received, under the provisions of South Carolina Workman’s Compensation Act, Code 1952, § 72-1 et seq., $8,000 which was paid by St. Paul Mercury Indemnity Company as insurer for Wilhoit, Robert Berry’s ■employer, and that said Indemnity Company is, by right' of subrogation, first ■entitled to be repaid the sum of $8,000 out of any recovery in this action.

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Related

Berry v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company
273 F.2d 572 (Fourth Circuit, 1960)

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Bluebook (online)
273 F.2d 572, 2 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 879, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/berry-v-atlantic-coast-line-railroad-ca4-1960.