Drawbaugh v. Pennsylvania Power & Light Co.

84 Pa. D. & C. 209, 1952 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 11
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County
DecidedDecember 22, 1952
Docketno. 224
StatusPublished

This text of 84 Pa. D. & C. 209 (Drawbaugh v. Pennsylvania Power & Light Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Drawbaugh v. Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., 84 Pa. D. & C. 209, 1952 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 11 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1952).

Opinion

Sohn, J.,

The matter before the court in this case concerns a petition for discovery filed under the provisions of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure. An action in trespass was instituted by plaintiff on April 21, 1951. On October 23, 1951, plaintiff served her petition for discovery on defendant, to which petition defendant filed preliminary objections. At the time of argument thereon, counsel for plaintiff agreed to amend her petition for discovery.

On January 23, 1952, plaintiff filed her amended petition for discovery, to which defendant filed its preliminary objections in the matters now before the court to dispose of the objections.

[211]*211The amended petition for discovery sets forth that plaintiff’s decedent, Oscar David Drawbaugh, was employed on April 26, 1950, by Hempt Bros, of Camp Hill, Pa., as a truck driver, and on that day delivered an engine to an area located a short distance south of Selinsgrove, Snyder County, Pa., the area then being under the control and possession of Hempt Bros. It sets forth also that at all relevant times Hempt Bros, were engaged in the construction of the relocation of State Highway Route No. 11, and in the process of such engagement were erecting a concrete batching plant, the engine for which was delivered to the area by decedent. In order to unload the engine from the truck which decedent was driving, a certain crane owned by Hempt Bros, and used in the area for sometime prior to April 26, 1950, was employed, and during this unloading process decedent was standing on the ground near the unloading operation. Over the general area occupied by Hempt Bros., and particularly over the area where the unloading operation was proceeding, defendant owned, maintained, controlled and operated electric transmission lines. During the unloading process, decedent was electrocuted when he received a fatal charge from the electric transmission lines, the electric charge arcing from the electric transmission lines, traveling down the crane, contacting decedent and killing him.

The petition further avers that with regard to the interrogatories which were attached to the petition, she had made diligent inquiry and was unable to ascertain the necessary information required for her pleading and for the establishment of a prima facie case at the time of trial. In addition, with regard to the answers to the interrogatories, petitioner further averred that they were within the exclusive knowledge of defendant, and for those reasons requested that the court order the interrogatories answered.

[212]*212Defendant in its preliminary objections to the original petition for discovery listed seven general preliminary objections, the second and seventh of which stated that:

“The information requested in the interrogatories attached to the petition for discovery is not within the purview of Rule 4005 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure and is beyond the prohibited limitations of rule 4011 of said rules, since the requested discovery: . . .
“(b) Is irrelevant and incompetent to the subject matter of the pending action. . . .
“(g) Has not been demonstrated to be competent or relevant or material, or admissible as evidence, since no complaint has ever been filed nor has the alleged negligence of the defendant been averred in the petition for discovery.”

In the preliminary objections to the amended petition for discovery, defendant again listed general preliminary objections, word for word, with the preliminary objections filed to the original petition for discovery, except that the two objections quoted above were omitted.

We feel that the omission is important. By the omission, defendant has tacitly admitted and conceded that the information requested in the interrogatories is competent and relevant and material. In the brief filed with this court defendant in support of its preliminary objections to the original petition for discovery, it was set forth by defendant as follows:

“Upon receipt of the interrogatories they were sent to the main office of the defendant in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and counsel for the defendant were advised, and on the basis of such information we so advise the court, that to search, find and supply all the information sought in the 52 interrogatories would require [213]*213several men at least several days to gather the same.”

Coupling the omission of the second and seventh general preliminary objections, as filed in the original preliminary objections, when the second general preliminary objection to the amended petition was filed, with the language just quoted, we feel that the information requested in the interrogatories is competent, relevant and material. It is evident from the language used in defendant’s brief as above set forth, the information requested by plaintiff is within the control and no doubt in the files of defendant company at Allentown, or elsewhere.

Sixty-five separate interrogatories are attached by plaintiff to the amended petition requesting discovery. Defendant has not pointed out specifically and with particularity where any one. interrogatory fails to comply with the Rules of Civil Procedure and for that reason, the court is not going to discuss specifically each and every one of the interrogatories propounded. A general review of them shows that what plaintiff seeks is the location of the transmission lines on stated dates, the height of the transmission lines on stated dates, the voltage, maximum sag of the lines, the type insulation used, and method of construction.

Likewise, the interrogatories request information with regard to the nature or absence of warnings given and how and when they were given, under what right defendant relocated and maintained its lines, and the knowledge of defendant with regard to the fact that Hempt Bros, were operating in the particular area concerned.

Plaintiff also requested certain blueprints and photographs, but first inquired in each instance whether those blueprints or photographs were in existence and if so, where they were located. If they are in existence, we feel that it is but a technical objection to say that [214]*214plaintiff should formally file .a petition under rule 4009 instead of rule 4005. If plaintiff has a right to the blueprints and photographs, there is no reason whatsoever why they should be delayed by technical objections in securing them.

Turning now to a discussion of the law of permitting discovery in Pennsylvania, we find that the history in this State has historically been very liberal. In Liegey, Trustee, v. Clearfield Textile Company, 149 Pa. Superior Ct. 433, 437 (1942), we find it held that:

“Discovery as an ancillary remedy is a favored jurisdiction of equity and the right will always be enforced unless some recognized and well established objection exists in the particular case to prevent or limit its operation.”

In Peoples City Bank v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company, 353 Pa. 123 (1945), our Supreme Court cited with approval the language of Mr. Justice Cardozo in Sinclair Rfg. Co. v. Jenkins Co., 289, U. S. 689, where it is said that:

“The rationale of the remedy (of discovery), when used as an auxiliary process in aid of trials at law, is simplicity itself.

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Related

Hickman v. Taylor
329 U.S. 495 (Supreme Court, 1947)
Peoples City Bank v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance
44 A.2d 514 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1945)
Liegey Trustee v. Clearfield Tex.
27 A.2d 545 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1941)

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Bluebook (online)
84 Pa. D. & C. 209, 1952 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 11, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/drawbaugh-v-pennsylvania-power-light-co-pactcompldauphi-1952.