Hudson v. Louisiana Electric Co.

7 La. App. 78, 1927 La. App. LEXIS 522
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 7, 1927
DocketNo. 3285
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 7 La. App. 78 (Hudson v. Louisiana Electric Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hudson v. Louisiana Electric Co., 7 La. App. 78, 1927 La. App. LEXIS 522 (La. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

ELLIOTT, J.

Suit by a widow, Individually and as tutrix, to recover damages [79]*79on account of the death of her husband, killed while using a public street in the town of Jennings, by the fall of an electric light pole, while being erected by defendant; no precaution having been taken to prevent people from coming under the pole while it was being elevated.

James A. Hudson, while driving his automobile truck on the streets of Jennings, was struck on the head and killed by an electric light pole which the Louisiana Electric Company,' Inc., had raised above the street for the purpose of setting, in the maintenance of its electric light system in said town. Mrs. Hudson, his widow, the mother and tutrix of their four children, all minors, brought suit individually and as tutrix against defendant to recover $30,000.00 damages on account of his death.

She alleges that the pole amounted to a deadly peril, erected by defendant on the street, and which as a result of defendant’s gross negligence in the matter, fell on her husband and killed him.

Defendant, answering, admits that plaintiff’s husband was killed by an electric light pole which it was erecting on one of the streets of the town. Alleged that it was being done in the usual way and that it had the right, by authority of the town, to erect the pole in the maintenance of its electric light system. That plaintiff’s husband saw the men at work, saw the pole, one end of which had been hoisted up over the street on pikes, and should have stopped and not gone under it. That he accosted its employees, while they had the pole elevated, saying: “What are you boys trying to do?” And at the same time stopped his automobile in their midst, directly under the pole, so close to them that they were compelled to shift their position to prevent being struck by his automobile. That its men had the pole under complete control until deceased, by his carelessness, disturbed their attention. That its employees hollered at him when he was 60 or 75 feet away. That he disregarded their warning and dashed his automobile in their midst, occasioning them to lose control of the pole.

That there was not room for him to pass without striking one and probably two- of its men. That he should have stopped at a safe distance and not run his automobile so close as to force the shifting of the men and pikes, thereby causing the pole to fall.

That the danger was apparent and obvious to the deceased. That deceased disregarded warnings, and the apparent and obvious danger, and recklessly exposed himself thereto. That other streets were open to him, but he chose a dangerous route, instead of a safe one, etc.

Defendant prayed that it be held free from fault, but in case it was found to have been negligent in the matter, that it be then held that the deceased was also negligent and at fault and that his fault and negligence in assuming an apparent and obvious danger, was contributory negligence of such character that plaintiff’s right to recover was thereby barred.

Union Indemnity Company intervened in the suit, alleging that it had an interest in the result. It alleged that James A. Hudson was an employee of the town of Jennings and was killed while engaged in the service of the town and in the regular course of his employment.

That it had paid compensation to the plaintiff as his widow and as the tutrix of their children to the amount of $1,100.00. Funeral and medicine to the amount of $309.35; a total of $1400.35. That it had the right to recover from the defendant the amount it had expended as above stated [80]*80and prayed for judgment against defendant accordingly. The District Judge for written reasons, rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant for $15,000.00 and in favor of the Intervenor and against the defendant for $1375.55 and authorized the defendant to pay the amount due the Intervenor as a credit against the amount awarded in favor of the plaintiff.

Defendant appealed.

The evidence shows that the defendant was engaged in elevating above one of the public streets of the town, a creosoted pole, 40 feet long, for the purpose of setting it. The pole was very slick and heavy. It was being erected in the maintenance of its electric light system in the town of Jennings. It had the right to erect poles for the purpose. Five streets intersected near the place where the men were at work; two of them were in .frequent use. The ground adjoining the place was not built up with houses, but was occupied by some old boilers and other objects, as indicated by some pictures filed in evidence.

The nearest building was the Philip Miller warehouse, some 75 or 100 feet distant. Defendants’ employees, six in number, with Dewey Phelps as foreman, laid the pole across the street, obstructing it from side to side. The top on the south and the butt on the north side and at the edge of a hole into which it was to be erected. The men lifted up the top and slipped a jenny under the pole. Four of them then got under it and raised it up on the points of their pikes. These pikes were from 14 to 18 feet long. A picture in the record, the general accuracy of which is nqt questioned, shows how the pole was being elevated, and its position at the time it fell. The picture shows that the butt end of one of the pikes was close to the south side of the street and that it leaned forward at such an angle that it was approximately five or six feet from the end of the pole to the place where it rested on the point of the pike. The butt end of another pike was further out in the street but not in the middle, while the other two were both near the middle of the street., each leaning forward, their points being under the pole and holding it up in the air at an angle as shown by the picture; the jenny being nearest the hole. One of the men engaged in the .work testified that the end of the pole was raised 20 or 25 feet, while two others thought that it was raised 15 or 20 feet high over the street.

After it was thus elevated the pikes were grounded, that is the men let the butt end rest on the ground, their points being under the pole and holding it up as shown in the picture. With the pole thus elevated, Johnson, one of the men engaged in the work, left his pike and went to the hole to see if the pole was slipping into it as they intended it should do.

No barrier had been erected on the street, no warning signs stuck up, nor guards stationed to prevent people using the street from coming under the pole.

It was at this juncture that plaintiff’s husband drove up. There was not room for him to pass as he came to the place, without striking the men or some of them; so he stopped under the pole, on the extreme right hand side of the street, the right wheel of his automobile being on the edge of the gutter. He was stopped by the obstruction, and almost the moment he stopped the pole fell and killed him.

Speaking of the care which must be taken by a party engaged in erecting a work above a street, it is said in Cooley on Torts, 2nd Ed., Section 658, p. 790:

“The case may be instanced by a householder repairing his roof arid while thus [81]*81engaged a slate falls and injures a person passing on the street. Here, manifestly, it was the duty of the householder to take such precautions as would prevent such an injury and the obligation of special care was on him. The passerby had a right to assume that no work being done over the sidewalk would subject him. to danger.

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Bluebook (online)
7 La. App. 78, 1927 La. App. LEXIS 522, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hudson-v-louisiana-electric-co-lactapp-1927.