Masa Torres v. Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority

96 P.R. 834
CourtSupreme Court of Puerto Rico
DecidedFebruary 12, 1969
DocketNo. R-66-403
StatusPublished

This text of 96 P.R. 834 (Masa Torres v. Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Masa Torres v. Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority, 96 P.R. 834 (prsupreme 1969).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Ramírez Bages

delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority appeals from the judgment of the Superior Court, San Juan Part, which ordered it to pay to Israel Masa González the sum of $57,220, to his parents the sum of $5,000 for the mental anguish suffered by them, and $6,000 for attorney’s fees by reason of the serious injuries he suffered upon coming in contact with the primary current in a transformer on which he was working.

Appellant’s assignments seek, as a whole, to challenge the weighing of the evidence made by the trial court and particularly in not concluding that appellee and his employer caused the accident in question.

In this case it is evident from the examination' we made of the record that the negligence of both litigants, although in different degrees, caused the accident which gave rise to this suit. Therefore, the judgment should be modified and the amount of damages imposed on appellant reduced. '

The trial court concluded that:

1. — Because a house in the Fourth Section of Villa del Rey Development did not receive electric current, Mr. Canetti, appellant’s employee in charge of the inspection of underground systems, went to determine the cause of that defect on December 1, 1964. Prior to that date, the firm Carrero & Tristani had finished the electric installation of said section, [836]*836including the T-18 transformer and the same had been inspected and approved by the aforesaid Authority. The latter had said transformer under its control which it closed with a padlock whose keys were kept by the Authority.

Appellee, Israel Masa González, has been an employee of Carrero & Tristani for seven months. He began as a laborer digging ditches and placing cables therein and then as electrician’s helper in dead lines. He worked in bases and transformers without current.

When Canetti noticed that in the T-18 transformer certain cables which had been replaced by Carrero & Tristani as a result of a former current failure were not connected, he went to see Mr. Collazo, Carrero & Tristani’s foreman, but he did not find him and talked with Mr. Diaz, an employee of Carrero & Tristani, who told him that he would send a man to do the work. The man he sent was the plaintiff. Canetti took him in a vehicle of the Authority to the T-18 transformer in order to perform the work. When they arrived at the place where the transformer was Canetti used a key and opened the padlock of the cabinet and the two doors. He took out a drawing and explained to Israel what had to be done, that is, to connect some cables at the right side of the transformer, which side was only 13 inches wide.

“Canetty [sic] turned off some of the disconnecting switches on the left section of the transformer which had high voltage, thus leaving the right section of the transformer where plaintiff was going to work without current. Canetty [sic] left in its place, however, one of the switches of the left section, leaving a third part of that section with high-voltage current.
“Canetty [sic] left both doors open and Masa crouched and began to work. The work consisted in inserting some cables through a small opening, and some minutes later, while Masa, in that position tried to insert the cables, he touched with his left knee the disconnecting switch on the left side of the trans[837]*837former, which had high-voltage current .... An explosion occurred and Masa fell backwards unconscious, having suffered serious burns. Mr. Canetty [sic] was standing a few feet away from Masa during the occurrence.
“The accident which occurred could have been avoided if the employees of the Authority had left the T-18 transformer entirely without current before Masa worked in it, which could have been easily done and in a few minutes. The accident could also have been avoided by keeping closed the left door of the cabinet where the high-voltage section was or by using the proper protecting equipment.
“The Authority was negligent in performing the original inspection of the lines and of the T-18 transformer, and not discovering the defects which existed in that transformer. Mr. Canetty [sic] was also negligent in having a person who did not belong to the Authority’s personnel carry out the repairs in question within the transformer, in violation of the rules of the Authority, particularly without ascertaining first that he was using, at least, a licensed electrician or one with the necessary ability for the work contemplated.
“But Canetty [sic] was even more negligent in indicating to Masa that there was no current in any place of the cabinet.
“Canetty [sic] in his testimony sought to explain that he. meant that there was no current in the right side (where the work was to be done), and that he told Masa that there was current on the left side. But even if that were true, since the cabinet involved was only 36 inches wide, the proximity of the danger was such that Canetty [sic] should not have permitted the work to be carried out without disconnecting the whole current of the transformer.
“As a consequence of the accident the plaintiff, Israel Masa, was unconscious for several hours, and in order to save his life mouth to mouth artificial respiration was administered to him. He suffered horrible burns and was hospitalized for 5 months and 18 days at the Industrial Hospital.
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“The burns were so serious that the patient was seriously ill for two or three months, and it was necessary to have special nurses to take care of him 24 hours a day for more than five [838]*838months — (until May 11, 1965) — said nurses having been considered indispensable from the medical point of view. It was necessary to administer blood transfusions and plasma on repeated occasions.
“Masa was submitted to five operations in order to perform some skin grafting and skin was removed from 20% of his body for the grafts, by means of the dermatome — a razor which vibrates similar to that used by barbers for cutting the hair— which leaves underlying tissues exposed. The treatment was very painful, since the burns had to be cleaned for the grafting; and the patient was always uncomfortable, since he could not even turn his body.
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“The court examined the plaintiff, Israel Masa, and at the time of the trial he showed horrible scars all over his body, the worst being on the left knee, on the right shoulder and arm, and on the legs. Plaintiff’s photographs admitted in evidence, taken a few days before the trial, represent accurately the present aspect of the scars.
“As a result of the accident plaintiff Masa has the left leg ankylosed, with a 30-degree flexion limitation of a possible 135 degrees, and has some weakness in the right arm. He walks with the knee extended and with an evident limp. The soft tissues in the left leg are atrophied, especially over the knee. The skin of the right thigh is atrophied, but there is no limitation of flexion.
“Aside from the foregoing, Masa has recovered his weight and at present is in an apparent healthy condition.

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96 P.R. 834, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/masa-torres-v-puerto-rico-water-resources-authority-prsupreme-1969.