San Antonio Gas & Electric Co. v. Speegle

• Decision Date: 19 December 1900
• Citation: 60 S.W. 884
• Parties: SAN ANTONIO GAS & ELECTRIC CO. v. SPEEGLE.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

60 S.W. 884

SAN ANTONIO GAS & ELECTRIC CO. v. SPEEGLE.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.

December 19, 1900.

Appeal from district court, Bexar county; R. B. Green, Judge.

Action by Elbert M. Speegle against the San Antonio Gas & Electric Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Reversed.

Houston Bros. and R. J. Boyle, for appellant. Keller & Williams, for appellee.

JAMES, C. J.

Appellee sued to recover damages for personal injury alleged to have been caused by an electric wire of the Mutual Electric Light Company. He was a lineman in its employ. In the performance of his duties he, with others, was engaged in pulling out a ground wire which was upon defendant's poles; that is, a wire that carries the return current from the line wire to the telephone. They had strung another wire in its place, and were taking this one down (that is, untying it and fixing to pull it down), when it broke on another pole, a span from where he was, and fell down upon defendant's wire, which was charged 2,000 volts, and the current thus passed into the wire he was handling, inflicting the injuries of which he complains. The petition alleges negligence as follows: "(8) That said injuries were caused by the negligence and misconduct and neglect of duty of the Mutual Electric Light Company, in this: that said light company at said time had live wires fully charged with electricity strung along its poles on said Grayson street, and that said wires were not insulated as required by section 14 of the Revised Criminal Ordinances of the City of San Antonio, which said ordinance was in force prior to and at the time of the occurrence of the damages herein complained of. That said ordinance is as follows: `Sec. 14. The following rules shall govern outside work, all systems and voltages: (12) Wires. (a) Service wires must have an approved rubber insulation covering. Line wires other than service, must have an approved weather or insulating covering. All tie wires must have an insulation equal to that of the conductors they confine.' That said wire belonging to defendant, and against which the dead wire handled by plaintiff fell, was and is a live wire, and it was not insulated, and did not have an `approved' weather or rubber insulating covering. That, if said wire had any covering at all, it was so constructed as to permit the current of electricity to go through said defective insulation, and be communicated to other wires coming in contact with it. That said wire was about a No. 8 in size, and it should have been insulated with at least three braids impregnated with a dense moisture repellent, and that said insulation should have been three thirty-seconds of an inch thick. That said wire was not so insulated, but that it was wrapped with but one or two braids, which were not saturated with a dense moisture repellent, and that said insulation was not over one thirty-second of an inch thick. That if said wire had been insulated as above set out, and as required by said ordinance, when the ground wire which plaintiff was holding in his hands fell upon and against said wire belonging to the said defendant company, there would have been no current conveyed to...