Brush Electric Light & Power Co. v. Lefevre

• Decision Date: 11 June 1900
• Court: Texas Supreme Court
• Parties: BRUSH ELECTRIC LIGHT & POWER CO. v. LEFEVRE et ux.

57 S.W. 640

BRUSH ELECTRIC LIGHT & POWER CO. v. LEFEVRE et ux.

Supreme Court of Texas.

June 11, 1900.

Error to court of civil appeals of First supreme judicial district.

Action by E. Lefevre and wife against the Brush Electric Light & Power Company for death caused by a live wire. From a judgment of the court of civil appeals (55 S. W. 396) affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff, defendant brings error. Reversed.

Terry, Ballinger, Smith & Lee, for plaintiff in error. Jas. B. & Chas. J. Stubbs and Edwin S. Easley, for defendants in error.

BROWN, J.

E. and Clara Lefevre, being husband and wife, sued the plaintiff in error in the district court of Galveston county for damages on account of the death of Paul, charged to have been occasioned by the negligence of the electric light company. The case was tried before a jury, and resulted in a verdict and judgment for $1,000 for E. Lefevre, and $3,000 for Clara Lefevre, which judgment was affirmed by the court of civil appeals. It will not be necessary to give a full statement of the facts in this case. The facts necessary to an understanding of the questions decided by us are as follows: Paul Lefevre was killed by coming in contact with the defendant's wires, maintained and operated by it in the city of Galveston, which wires were suspended diagonally across the intersection of Strand and Twenty-First streets, in that city. The wires were fastened upon awnings at the northeast and at the southwest corners of the intersection of said streets. Between these points two wires extended at the height of about 16 feet from the street; and at the northeast corner they were fastened upon a trestle about 2½ feet above the top of the awning in front of the house situated on that corner, and from the top of the trestle they extended down to the awning, and thence into the building, for lighting purposes. The top of the trestle on the awning was about 19 feet, and the top of the awning was about 16 feet, from the level of the street. The wires between the top of the trestle and the awning had been spliced, and were entirely bare; having no insulation upon them. E. Lefevre, assisted by his son and others, was engaged in moving a house along Strand towards the east, and, arriving at the intersection of Strand with Twenty-First street, they found that the wires were hanging too low for the house to pass under them; the top of the house being about 24 feet above the level of the street. E. Lefevre went upon the awning in question, and, having fastened a rope to the wires to lift them above the house, threw it to his son, who was upon the top of the house that was being moved; and E. Lefevre, in order to assist his son, caught hold of the wires, receiving a shock that produced unconsciousness. Paul, seeing the condition of his father, jumped from the top of the house onto the awning, and, with the help of another, released the father from the wires; and, he being restored to consciousness, Paul fell from some cause, and his father fell likewise upon him, on the top of the awning. Paul caught with both of his hands the two wires extending from the trestle to the awning, and received a shock that produced his death. There is no evidence that this awning was ever used as a place of resort, or for any purpose whatever, by persons going upon the top of it; and the photographic views of it, which were in evidence, and are in the statement of facts, indicate that it was simply...