Alabama Power Co. v. Cooper

Decision Date11 October 1934
Docket Number6 Div. 585.
Citation229 Ala. 318,156 So. 854
PartiesALABAMA POWER CO. v. COOPER.
CourtAlabama Supreme Court

Appeal from Circuit Court, Walker County; R. L. Blanton, Judge.

Action for damages for personal injuries by Christine Cooper against the Alabama Power Company. From a judgment for plaintiff defendant appeals.

Transferred from Court of Appeals under section 7326, Code of 1923.

Reversed and remanded.

Arthur Fite, of Jasper, and Martin, Turner & McWhorter, of Birmingham, for appellant.

Davis &amp Curtis, of Jasper, for appellee.

BOULDIN Justice.

Action for personal injuries from electric shock and burns.

The pertinent facts determinative of the sole question presented on this appeal are briefly these:

Cane Creek Coal Company was operating a coal mine; owned and rented to its employees certain residences near the mines. The Alabama Power Company furnished the coal company electric energy to operate the mine and light the residences in this mining village. This electric current, 2,300 volts, was released at the substation of Alabama Power Company about a mile from this village, and conveyed over the wire of the coal company to its transformers, located near the mine. Here the current was stepped down by multiple transformers, one portion going to the mine to operate machinery, and another 110 volts, carried on wires to light the residences of employees. Mr. L. W. Cooper and Mrs. Cooper, the appellee, lived in one of these residences. The lighting wire, strung on poles at usual height, passed between their residence and that of Mr. Harper. The distance between the two houses at nearest point was some 30 feet. Mr. Cooper, undertaking to rearrange an outside aerial wire for his radio by connecting it with a wire above Mr. Harper's roof, went upon the roof of the Cooper house, which was higher than that of the Harper house, detached his aerial wire from a tree, and undertook to throw the loose end over onto the roof of the Harper house. It failed to reach its objective, and the loose end fell to the ground or street between the two houses. As a result, this wire caught and rested upon the light wire. Mr. Cooper picked up the wire from the ground, called to Mrs. Cooper, and handed it to her, while he went on the roof of the Harper house. At that moment Mrs. Cooper received a severe shock, screamed, and Mr. Cooper hastened to jerk the wire loose from her, became entangled in it himself, and was speedily killed by the electric force. Mrs. Cooper received injuries for which she sues.

The gravamen of the complaint was that, by reason of negligence in operating defective transformers, those of the coal company, and want of proper grounding, a high and dangerous voltage, much in excess of that required for lighting purposes, was upon the light wire at the time. Evidence tended to support this averment. It is further alleged, and likewise supported by the evidence, that the insulation on the light wire at this point was defective, leaving it entirely exposed at places; and further that the light wire had been broken, and tied together with exposed ends; that these conditions, open and visible, were known to defendant, or had existed for such time as charged it with knowledge. It appears probable the shock was due to Mrs. Cooper's change of position while holding the loose end of the wire, so that, unknown to her, the wire in her hands was moved onto an uninsulated portion of the light wire at their point of contact, and so charged with a dangerous current.

Appellant, as stated, presents but one question. This contention is that the negligence shown, if any, was not the proximate cause of the injury; that the injury resulted from an independent intervening efficient cause, not reasonably to be anticipated, to wit, the act of a third person, Mr. Cooper, in contacting another wire with the light wire and drawing the current from the light wire with deadly effects.

Upon careful consideration, we are of opinion the point is well taken, and so hold.

Principles recognized in our own cases, as well as the great weight of authority in other states, dealing often with facts analogous to the case before us, lead to this conclusion. Without reviewing these authorities at length, we cite the following Golson v. W. F. Covington Mfg. Co., 205 Ala. 226, 87 So. 439; Sheffield Co. v. Morton, 161 Ala. 153, 47 So. 772; Alabama Power Co. v. McIntosh, 219 Ala....

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24 cases
  • Louisville & N.R. Co. v. Maddox
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • January 20, 1938
    ... ... Ala. 110, 166 So. 800; Ensley Holding Co. v. Kelly, ... 229 Ala. 650, 158 So. 896; Alabama Power Co. v ... Maddox, 227 Ala. 628, 151 So. 575; Louisville & ... Nashville R. R. Co. v ... v. Fonville, 218 Ala. 566, 119 So. 610; Alabama ... Power Co. v. Cooper, 229 Ala. 318, 156 So. 854; ... Ruffin Coal & Trans. Co. v. Rich, 214 Ala. 633, 108 ... So. 596; ... ...
  • Foote v. Scott-New Madrid-Mississippi Elec. Co-op.
    • United States
    • Missouri Court of Appeals
    • July 10, 1962
    ...& W. Ry. Co., 122 W.Va. 365, 9 S.E.2d 524; Rand v. Long Island R. Co., 197 Misc. 744, 95 N.Y.S.2d 688. Consult also Alabama Power Co. v. Cooper, 229 Ala. 318, 156 So. 854; Davis v. Carolina Power & Light Co., 238 N.C. 106, 76 S.E.2d 378; Hassett v. Palmer, 126 Conn. 468, 12 A.2d 646, ...
  • Alabama Power Co. v. Berry
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • October 12, 1950
    ...205 Ala. 229-230, 87 So. 441. Other cases bearing some analogy and leading to the same result are: Alabama Power Co. v. Cooper, 229 Ala. 318, 319, 320, 156 So. 854, 855, 856; Littleton v. Alabama Power Co., 243 Ala. 492, 494, 10 So.2d 757, 759; Lawson v. Mobile Electric Co., 204 Ala. 318, 3......
  • City of Birmingham v. Latham
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • June 20, 1935
    ... ... 566, 119 So. 610; ... Vaughn v. Dwight Mfg. Co., 206 Ala. 552, 91 So. 77; ... Alabama Power Co. v. Cooper, 229 Ala. 318, 156 So ... 854; Alabama Utilities Co. v. Champion (Ala.Sup.) ... ...
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