Birmingham Railway, Light & Power Co. v. Canfield

59 So. 217, 177 Ala. 422, 1912 Ala. LEXIS 282
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedMay 30, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 59 So. 217 (Birmingham Railway, Light & Power Co. v. Canfield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Birmingham Railway, Light & Power Co. v. Canfield, 59 So. 217, 177 Ala. 422, 1912 Ala. LEXIS 282 (Ala. 1912).

Opinion

McCLELLAN, J.

Action for personal injuries, by a servant (appellee) against the master. Of the nine counts of the complaint filed, one only — the third — was not affirmatively charged out by the court. , That, Avith a general traverse and special pleas of assumption of risk and contributory negligence, of the sufficiency of Avhich special pleas no question appears to have been made, constituted the issues submitted to the jury. The plaintiff AA’as a lineman in the employ of the defendant, and Avas, AAdien injured, engaged in that service. The point of contention between the litigants really arises in respect of the particular, immediate physical means of his injury. The plaintiff’s theory — and this was accepted by the jury — Avas that a deadly, high voltage Avas communicated to his body through the imparting, by contact, of that dangerous current, to a Avire or Avires of Ioav Amltage Avith Avhich, in the performance of his duty, plaintiff’s person came in contact, either directly or through a broken telephone wire he Avas directed to remove from in or about a transformer. On the other hand, the theory of the defendant aauis that his injury resulted from his bringing his person in contact with the high-voltage wires of its plant. The third count Avas drawn under the first subdivision of the Employer’s Liability Statute (Code, § 3910).

The description of the defect in the ways, Avorks, etc., is as folloAA'S: “The apparatus for attaching said Avires to one of said poles, to Avit, a pole at or near Twenty-Third street and First alley in said city, to wit, a cross-[426]*426arm and pin therein, was defective, and as a proximate consequence of said defect, said wire came near to said pole upon which plaintiff was, and being heavily charged with electricity, caused plaintiff to be burned and shocked by electricity on the occasion aforesaid, and to suffer said injuries and damage.”

The plaintiff was injured at a place approximately two blocks from the place whereat the alleged defect existed. Strung on poles and cross-arms between the two places-and beyond them on the line was a wire which carried a highly dangerous current of 8,000 to 4,000 volts, and also a wire or wires carrying a voltage of 110 — a voltage not reguarded as highly dangerous. The high-voltage wire was strung above that of lower voltage. These wires were attached to glass insulators, which, in turn, were attached, screwed, to wooden pins; and these pins were inserted in holes in cross beams or arms which were fastened to the pole.

It was the plaintiff’s contention that the place where the cross-arm was attached to the pole, at Twenty-Third street and First alley, was lower than that of the wire attachment on the' poles on both sides thereof, which condition would permit the drawing of the pin, supporting and screwed to the glass insulator, out of the hole in the cross-arm, by the natural tension of the low-voltage wire as attached, on both sides at greater elevations, to the neighboring poles, unless the pin was so secured to the cross-arm as to overcome this tension ; and that on this occasion the pin was drawn out by the tension of the low-voltage wire, and, rising to approach the level of the attachment of that wire to the neighboring poles, came in contact with the high-voltage wire at that point, received into it a higher and very dangerous current, which was transmitted to the place whereat plaintiff was at work, injuring him when his person [427]*427came in contact with a wire that Avould otherwise have been safe, namely, a Avire, Avhich, if unconnected Avith one carrying high voltage; Avould not, conld not, have inflicted the injury suffered by plaintiff.

There Avas evidence tending to shoAV that a properly constructed or maintained system of this kind, with cross-arms resting at different elevations, should have the pins, in the loAver cross-arms, nailed or pinioned thereto. There Avas evidence to the contrary.

What due prudence, foresight, and diligence Avould have required, or did require, under such circumstances, was a jury question on the whole evidence; and, if the vieAv of the plaintiff prevailed Avith the jury, then there Avas a defect in the condition of the plant within the charge laid in the third count.

Electricity is an illusive, in a degree uncontrollable, and a dangerous, element. The character and nature of the hazard to which, if unguarded, it subjects persons and property, suggests a measure of caution and diligence commensurate Avith the danger its employment necessarily calls into existence.

The defendant was not entitled to the affirmative charge, on the evidence before us, on the theory that the defect alleged in the third count Avas not shown, or that its presence Avas not the result of negligence of the defendant or of some one for AAdiose neglect the defendant Avas responsible. If there Avas a defective condition in the particular indicated, and in consequence of it low-voltage Avires Avere charged with, and transmitted, the highly dangerous current to the place at Avhich plaintiff’s service required him to be, and he Avas, as appears without dispute, ignorant of the conditions made by the contact of the high with the low voltage Avires, and was injured by the contact of his person with the wire thus charged with the high and dangerous current, it is too [428]*428evident for doubt that the order of negligent causation and its damnifying effect were so connected, so related, as to admit of the ascription- of the injury to the negligent cause, viz., the defect set forth in the third count; for the employee may assume, in the absence of knowledge to the contrary, that the master has been guilty of no negligence which would enhance his danger over that ordinarily incident to his service or that would create a hazard not existent without neglect on the part of the master.

It is contended, however, for the appellant, that there was no evidence that the low-voltage wire was detached from the cross-arm at Twenty-Third street and First alley before or at the time of plaintiff’s injury, so as to impart the highest voltage to the low-voltage wire. It was shown for the defendant that by the use of the testing apparatus, contrived for the purpose, it was found at 7, 12 and 3 o’clock, during the clay and before the injury which occurred about 7 in the evening, that the high-voltage wire in question was in proper order — Avas not in contact with any other wire in that section of the city.

There was evidence to the effect that on the morning next succeeding the plaintiff’s injury the low-voltage wire was detached from the cross-arm, at the place indicated, and was in contact with a high-voltage wire running to the scene of plaintiff’s injury. This evidence, in connection with other phases of the testimony descriptive of the event and of the surrounding circumstances attending it, afforded, if credited, at least a degree of proof that the contact of the wires, as. indicated, existed when plaintiff was injured.—Jackson Lumber Co. v. Cunningham, 141 Ala. 206, 37 South. 445; L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Fitzgerald, 161 Ala. 397, 414, 49 South. 860; Lewy Art Co. v. Agricola, 169 Ala. 60, 70, 53 South. [429]*429145. See, also, Chamberlain v. Southern Railway Co., 159 Ala. 171, 48 South. 703; Western S. C. & F. Co. v. Cunningham, 158. Ala. 369, 376, 377, 47 South. 109. Accordingly, charge 4, requested by defendant, was well refused.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 So. 217, 177 Ala. 422, 1912 Ala. LEXIS 282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/birmingham-railway-light-power-co-v-canfield-ala-1912.