Mississippi Power & Light Co. v. Griffin

• Decision Date: 29 January 1936
• Docket Number: No. 7816.,7816.
• Citation: 81 F.2d 292
• Parties: MISSISSIPPI POWER & LIGHT CO. v. GRIFFIN.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

81 F.2d 292 (1936)

MISSISSIPPI POWER & LIGHT CO. v. GRIFFIN.

No. 7816.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

January 29, 1936.

Marcellus Green, Garner Wynn Green, Forrest B. Jackson, and A. M. Nelson, all of Jackson, Miss., and Cowles Horton, of Grenada, Miss., for appellant.

W. I. Stone, of Coffeeville, Miss., for appellee.

Before SIBLEY, HUTCHESON, and WALKER, Circuit Judges.

WALKER, Circuit Judge.

This was an action by the appellee to recover damages for personal injuries which were attributed to negligence of appellant, Mississippi Power & Light Company, in so erecting and maintaining, beneath and attached to a suspended platform in appellant's power house in the town of Coffeeville, Miss., electric current transformers as to leave uninsulated part of a threaded metal bolt which was connected with wires heavily charged with electricity; the uninsulated part of that bolt being about 16 inches from an electric light bulb which was used by the appellee, an employee of the town of Coffeeville, in performing his duties of attending to that town's water pump, which was operated by means of a motor located on the floor of appellant's power house beneath the above-mentioned platform. The appellant pleaded the general issue. In the trial there was evidence to the following effect: Formerly the town of Coffeeville owned and operated electric power and water systems installed in its power house. In 1927 the town sold its electric power system and its power house to the appellant. Thereafter the electric power used by the appellant was transmitted from Grenada, Miss., but it continued to use the power house for its transformers and for current furnished for service of the town and its inhabitants, and the town continued to use, for pumping water from a well near the power house, pumps which were located in the power house. When appellant became the owner of the power house there was a platform suspended from the joists which supported the roof, the bottom of that platform being about 6½ feet above the concrete floor. The above-mentioned pumps were located on the floor beneath the platform. On the underside of that platform, above the town's pumps, the town's employees installed a screw electric light bulb for use in operating its pumps, whereby light was put on and off by turning the bulb. On that platform were transformers of the appellant by means of which high voltage electric current coming into the building from the outside was reduced, and beneath the platform and attached to it were transformers by means of which the 2,300-volt current coming from above the platform through porcelain tubes was reduced to 220 and 110 volts. A wire which came to the underside of the platform through a porcelain tube turned to the right at right angles and went about 14 inches to where it was fastened to the arm of a transformer by a metal bolt and nut. That bolt was covered by insulating tape, except that the tape did not cover the end of the bolt. One could see that the end of the bolt was not covered by the insulating tape. The exposed part of that bolt was about 16 inches from the above-mentioned screw electric light bulb. The appellee had been familiar with the above-mentioned situation for about three years prior to August 12, 1933. On August 11, 1933, an electric storm burned out one of the town's electric motors. On August 12, 1933, the town's employees borrowed from appellant another motor. About 10 o'clock that night, the appellee, an employee of the town who attended to the water pump — "all the electric parts concerning the pump" being his job, which he had held since the time appellant acquired the power house — placed the borrowed motor so it would run to the pump with a belt and started the motor to running. Then appellee turned off the light and left the building. Just after appellee got outside the power house he discovered that the pumping was not at full stream, whereupon he went back into the building, where, as stated by himself, "it was real dark," and, without striking a match or using a flashlight, he undertook "to walk inside about eight or ten feet and reach up and screw the globe so as to get a light," and in doing so his left hand came in contact with a high electric current, whereby he was shocked and injured. Light in the building could have been obtained by using a drop light which was located about ten feet farther from the door than the screw bulb light under the platform. The following appears in the cross-examination of the appellee:

"Q. You were careful not to touch that wire. A. I didn't touch it.

"Q. I say, you knew it was there and was careful not to touch it. A. Well, I was careful about any wire that — didn't touch any wire that I didn't have to touch.

"Q. You knew it was there within sixteen inches of this screw globe? A. Well, I suppose I had seen it there a good many times, but I just thought — didn't have any idea anybody would leave as dangerous wire as that within reach of anybody, so far as that is concerned."

Upon the appellee stating that he had a key to the power house, he was asked, "And kept it locked?" Appellee did not answer that question. Upon the...