Texas Utilities Co. v. West

59 S.W.2d 459, 1933 Tex. App. LEXIS 601
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 29, 1933
DocketNo. 3893
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 59 S.W.2d 459 (Texas Utilities Co. v. West) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Texas Utilities Co. v. West, 59 S.W.2d 459, 1933 Tex. App. LEXIS 601 (Tex. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

JACKSON, Justice.

The plaintiffs Mrs. O. F. West, surviving wife of O. F. West, deceased, acting for herself and as the legally appointed guardian of Howard Floyd and Maurine, the minor children of herself and her deceased husband, joined by H. T. West and wife, Mattie, the parents of the deceased, instituted this suit to recover from the defendant, Texas Utilities Company, a corporation, damages for the death of O. F. West which they alleged was occasioned by the negligence of the defendant.

The plaintiffs pleaded that O. F. West and his aforementioned wife and minor children occupied as a home certain property in Hereford, Tex., across which the defendant maintained high-tension power lines which extended between the dwelling and the windmill tower on said premises; that on September 20, Í927, O. F. West attempted to put up an uninsulated copper wire from the windmill tower to his dwelling as an aerial for his radio; that the copper wire came " in contact with the defendant’s high-tension line, and O. F. West was electrocuted; that the high-tension wire constituting defendant’s lines were covered, with some substance, which, to a person of ordinary prudence, but not skilled in the operation of electricity, gave them the appearance of wires which were in[460]*460sulated to protect persons coming in contact therewith from danger, and the deceased relied on such appearance and was deceived and misled thereby; that said lines were not sufficiently insulated and would not protect a person who came in contact therewith from injury.

In the alternative, plaintiffs say that, if said lines were originally sufficiently insulated, then such insulation had become defective, insufficient, and inadequate by reason of bréales and abrasions therein caused by age and exposure, to the weather; that all of such conditions were known to the defendant, or could have been known by ordinary diligence, but were unknown to the deceased, and he was given no notice or warning of the conditions of said lines or the danger of coming in contact therewith; that such acts were negligence and the proximate cause of the death of O. P. West.

The defendant answered by general demurrer, certain special exceptions, general denial, pleas of limitation, and alleged the contributory negligence of the deceased based on numerous different grounds.

The defendant specially excepted to the cause of action alleged in behalf of the respective plaintiffs, as their pleadings disclosed that their claims were barred by limitation.

The deceased was killed September 20,1927. Mrs. O. E. West, on December 16th thereafter, was appointed guardian of the estates of Howard Floyd, age 6, and Maurine, age 4, at the time of their father’s death. The original petition was filed January 22,1931.

The court sustained the defendant’s contention as to the individual claims of the surviving wife and parents of the deceased, but held that limitation did not defeat the rights of the minor plaintiffs.

In response to special issues submitted by the court, the jury found, in effect, that, at the time the deceased lost his life, the high-tension wires of the defendant were not sufficiently insulated to prevent the escape of a dangerous electric current; that the insulation had breaks and abrasions therein, caused by age and exposure to the weather; that the defendant knew, or could have known by the exercise of reasonable diligence, of the defective and dangerous condition of said lines; that it did not warn the deceased of such defects or the danger caused thereby; that defendant was negligent in maintaining its said lines without sufficient insulation and in permitting such insulation to become and remain defective, negligent in failing to warn the deceased of the condition of said lines and the resultant danger of coming in contact therewith, and that such negligence was the proximate cause of the death of O. P. West. The jury found that the deceased did not know and could not, by the exercise of ordinary care, have known of the defective conditions of the insulation of said lines and the consequent danger thereof and acquitted the deceased of all acts of contributory negligence charged against him by the defendant.

The court entered judgment that Mrs. O. P. West individually and I-I. T. and Mattie West take nothing and on the findings of the jury decreed that. Howard Ployd West recover the sum of $3,500 and Maurine West recover the sum of $4,000, from which judgment in favor of the minor plaintiffs this appeal is prosecuted.

The appellant contends by proper assignment that, inasmuch as the record shows without dispute that Mrs: O. P. West was legally appointed and qualified as the guardian of the estates of the minor plaintiffs more than two years prior to the institution of this suit, its plea of limitation should have been sustained against the minor plaintiffs and judgment in their behalf denied.

At the time the cause of action accrued to the minor plaintiffs, and at the time of the trial, they were under the disability of minority, and were not subject to the statutes of limitation, article 5535, R. O. S., unless their rights were barred by the failure of their legally appointed guardian to institute suit in their behalf within two years from her qualification.

“In reference to this it is sufficient to say that in our own state it is held that the heir or ward under disability is not deprived of his action by any neglect on the part of the administrator or guardian to bring suit within due time. * ⅜ *

“However much the courts of other states may differ upon this point, they have almost universally agreed that the position of a trustee under deed is different from that of a guardian or administrator, the trustee holding the legal, while the cestui que trust holds the equitable, title; whereas the heir or ward holds the legal title, subject only to the right of the administrator or guardian to control the estate for the benefit of all parties interested in it or its administration.” Collins v. McCarty, 68 Tex. 150, 3 S. W. 730, 731, 2 Am. St. Rep. 475.

In Shaw, Banking Commissioner, v. Dalston (Tex. Civ. App.) 18 S.W.(2d) 215, 219, writ refused, in speaking of the trust reposed in a guardian, the court says: “His powers and obligations are similar to those of a trustee, with the distinction that a guardian does not have title to the ward’s property.”

The rules of limitation controlling suits by trustees for their beneficiaries “have no application when the legal title is vested in the cestui que who labors under the disability of minority. In such case the statute of limitutioa does not run against him, although [461]*461it may have run against the trustee.” 21 Tex. Jur. 389, § 118, and authorities cited.

The statutes give to the minor plaintiffs a cause of action against the defendant for the wrongful death of their father. K. C. S. article 4671, and article 5525 (as amended by Acts 1927, c. 239, § 1 [Vernon’s Ann. Civ. St. art. 5525]). Such a cause of action is a property asset or an estate. 13 Tex. Jur. p. 623; St. Louis Southwestern Ry. Co. v. Smitha, 111 Tex. 285, 232 S. W. 494. See, also, 37 C. J. p. 1018.

The cduse of action arising from the death of their father was a property right or an estate belonging to the minor plaintiffs, and the *ial court correctly held that the suit of the ;minor plaintiffs was not barred by limitation.

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59 S.W.2d 459, 1933 Tex. App. LEXIS 601, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-utilities-co-v-west-texapp-1933.