Denison Light & Power Co. v. Patton
| Decision Date | 12 March 1913 |
| Parties | DENISON LIGHT & POWER CO. v. PATTON. |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
Action by B. B. Patton against the Denison Light & Power Company and another. On judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals (135 S. W. 1040) affirming a judgment for plaintiff, the Denison Light & Power Company brings error. Reversed and remanded.
Harry P. Lawther, of Dallas, and Head, Smith, Hare & Head, of Sherman, for plaintiff in error. John C. Wall, of Sherman, and E. J. Smith, of Denison, for defendant in error.
B. B. Patton, the plaintiff in the trial court, was a lineman in the employ of the Southwestern Telegraph & Telephone Company in the city of Denison, and brought this suit against that company and the Denison Light & Power Company, herein designated for convenience as the Telephone Company and Light Company, respectively, to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been sustained by him as the result of an electrical shock received on October 23, 1908, while in the discharge of the duties of his employment. The trial resulted in a peremptory instruction in favor of the Telephone Company and a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff against the Light Company, on whose appeal the judgment was affirmed by the honorable Court of Civil Appeals.
Both companies maintained and operated their systems in the city of Denison, having their wires stretched on poles located in the streets. A pole of the Light Company stood at the corner of Hull street and Austin avenue, about midway between two poles of the Telephone Company, and, being lower than such poles, the wires of the Light Company at that point were beneath those of the Telephone Company, which consisted of a cable containing several wires attached to a messenger wire, but in close proximity to them. A violent storm occurred on October 21st, as the result of which the telephone cable sagged at this corner of the streets and came in contact with the wires of the Light Company, causing a hole to be burned in the cable. Patton with two coemployés was sent out by the Telephone Company on the following day to discover and repair defects in its wires, and, upon reaching this corner, discovered the contact of the wires and the condition of the telephone cable. They effected a temporary repair of the cable, and relieved the contact and further separated the wires of the two companies by fastening a cross-arm near the top of the Light Company pole located at the corner of the streets, and placing the telephone cable and messenger wire upon it, thus raising them about 3½ feet above the top of the Light Company pole and accordingly some distance above the Light Company wires, leaving them in this condition about 5:30 in the afternoon, with the intention of returning the next day and completing the repairs upon the telephone cable. Just as they were leaving, O. P. Sammon, the chief lineman of the Light Company, came up and observed what they had done, and the situation of the cable and wires as left by them. On the following morning Patton returned to the place to complete his work upon the cable, went up the Light Company's pole, upon the cross-arm of which he and his companions had rested the Telephone Company's messenger wire and cable, and attached to the messenger wire and suspended beneath the cable, as thus situated, a swinging platform, upon which he seated himself with his feet hanging below it and began to repair the cable. Patton's testimony was that the platform, as thus located, rested upon a wire or wires of the Light Company. Shortly afterward, while in this situation and so engaged, he received the shock from a wire of the Light Company that caused his injuries, due either to the platform coming in contact with and resting upon the wire, or his feet or legs coming in contact with it. The current that caused the shock he received was turned on at the direction of Sammon by telephone from a point in the residence circuit of the Light Company where he was at the same time engaged in some repairs for the Light Company, as a test to enable him to know whether the service of the Light Company was in order. Sammon had no actual knowledge of any purpose on Patton's part to return to this place and complete the repairs to the cable that morning, nor did he have any such knowledge of Patton's situation or that he was at work upon the cable at the time he ordered the current turned on. Patton was an experienced lineman, and knew the danger of coming in contact with a live electric wire.
The charge of the court, which is assailed by the Light Company, the plaintiff in error, was as follows: "If you believe from the evidence that on the evening of October 22, 1908, plaintiff, with other linemen of said Telephone Company, found it necessary to repair a cable of the said Telephone Company at or near the corner of Hull street and Austin avenue, and if you further believe from the evidence that certain wires of the Denison Light & Power Company were in close proximity to the said cable at the place where said repairs were to be made, and had been in such close proximity for some time prior thereto, and that such condition at this place was known to the Denison Light & Power Company; and if you further believe from the evidence that on said afternoon certain work and temporary repairs were done upon said cable at said place, and if you further believe from the evidence that one Sammon, line foreman for the Denison Light & Power Company, on said afternoon saw the conditions of the various wires and cable at said place, and the work that said linemen had done, and if you further believe from the evidence that it reasonably appeared to said Sammon that the said linemen would probably return on the morning of the 23d to complete the repairs on said cable, and that said work would be attended with grave danger to said linemen if a current of electricity were turned onto said wires at said place; and if you further believe from the evidence that on the morning of October 23, 1908, the said linemen returned to said place to complete the work on said cable, and that to do said work it was necessary to fasten a platform on the messenger wire that held up said cable, and that said platform was fastened to said messenger wire near to a pole of the Denison Light & Power Company; and if you further...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Rosas v. Buddie's Food Store
...the tort becomes actionable when the breach causes injury. McCall v. Marshall, 398 S.W.2d 106 (Tex.1965); Denison Light & Power Co. v. Patton, 105 Tex. 621, 154 S.W. 540 (1913). More in point, the duties owed by a landowner depend upon the role of the person injured on his premises. The dut......
-
Hicks v. Gulf, C. & S. F. Ry. Co.
...App. 241, 74 S. W. 58; Mack v. Railway Co., 134 S. W. 846; Cameron & Co. v. Polk, 177 S. W. 1178; Denison, etc., Power Co. v. Patton, 105 Tex. 621, 154 S. W. 540, 45 L. R. A. (N. S.) 303; Railway Co. v. Kinsloe, 172 S. W. 1124; Stamford Oil Co. v. Barnes, 103 Tex. 409, 128 S. W. 375, 31 L. ......
-
Bernard Johnson, Inc. v. Continental Constructors, Inc.
...protection of the plaintiff, any act or omission by the defendant does not amount to actionable negligence. Denison Light & Power Co. v. Patton, 105 Tex. 621, 154 S.W. 540 (1913). We believe the foregoing established principles defeat the possibility of any cause of action, for an economic ......
-
Thomas v. Southern Lumber Co.
...its breach, there can be no actionable negligence and hence no legal liability or right of recovery for damages. Denison Light & Power Co. v. Patton, 105 Tex. 621, 154 S.W. 540, point 1, 45 L.R.A., N.S., 303; T. J. Mansfield Const. Co. v. Gorsline, Tex.Com.App., 288 S.W. 1067, point 3; Gulf......