Florida Power Corp. v. Willis

• Decision Date: 12 May 1959
• Docket Number: No. A-377,A-377
• Citation: 112 So.2d 15
• Parties: FLORIDA POWER CORPORATION, Appellant, v. Ralph WILLIS, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

Page 15

112 So.2d 15

FLORIDA POWER CORPORATION, Appellant, v. Ralph WILLIS, Appellee.

No. A-377.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

May 12, 1959.

Rehearing Denied June 2, 1959.

Osborne, Copp, Markham & Ehrlich, Jacksonville, for appellant.

C. A. Avriett, Jasper, and J. B. Hodges, Lake City, for appellee.

WIGGINGTON, Judge.

This is an appeal from a final judgment awarding plaintiff damages for personal injuries sustained by him as the result of defendant's alleged negligence.

The complaint on which the case was tried alleges that defendant owns and maintains an uninsulated high-tension electric line which traverses farm lands on which plaintiff was engaged in the growing and cultivation of corn and tobacco. It also alleges the defendant negligently permitted its power lines and wires to become in need of repair and to sag, drop, hang down and remain out of place at and across the land which plaintiff was farming. While plaintiff was handling, turning over and around a length of aluminum irrigation pipe incident to his normal farming activities, he received in some unascertained way a violent shock and burn causing serious and permanent injuries. The complaint alleges that these injuries are the direct result of defendant's negligence in failing to properly maintain its transmission lines.

Defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to allege ultimate facts showing a causal relation between the alleged acts of negligence and plaintiff's injuries was denied. Defendant in its answer denied the material allegations of negligence, or that it had knowledge of any defective or dangerous conditions at the time and place alleged in the complaint. The answer further alleges that plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence, and that the transmission line was constructed and maintained in accordance with the minimum requirements of the National Electrical Safety Code. The last defense above stated was stricken on plaintiff's motion, and the cause proceeded to trial on the issues made by the complaint and the remaining defenses interposed by the answer. Defendant's motions for directed verdict at the close of plaintiff's evidence and at the conclusion of all the evidence were denied, as was its motion for new trial filed subsequent to entry of judgment.

Appellant attacks the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the judgment. Plaintiff testified that on the day he was injured he observed the electric line suspended over the area on which he was in the process of connecting thirty-foot lengths of irrigation pipe, and due to the extreme heat of the day the wires were singing and appeared to sag more than usual. Plaintiff was unable to state with any degree of definiteness how high the lowest wire was above the ground on which he was working, and the record is devoid of any evidence tending to establish that at the time and place in question the electric lines were in need of repair. Defendant established that the clearance between the ground and lowest wire was approximately twenty-four feet, whereas the minimum standards of the National Electrical Safety Code by which all such lines are constructed and maintained throughout the country require a clearance of only eighteen feet five inches above the earth in areas devoted to agricultural pursuits. The temperature prevailing at the time plaintiff was injured was proved to be ninety-five degrees, and the testimony of defendant's electrical engineering experts established that the transmission line would sag not more than one foot for every thirty degree change in temperature.

It is the contention of appellant that the foregoing evidence completely refutes the allegations that it was negligent in the maintenance of its transmission line and affirmatively establishes that its line was of sufficient height above the ground to protect those who might be exposed to its dangerous effect.

Our Supreme Court has held that while an electric company is not an insurer against all possible accidents, it is nevertheless under an obligation to do all that human care, vigilance and foresight can reasonably do consistent with the practical operation of its plant to protect those who use its electricity. ¹ However, the Court has refused to enlarge that duty to require the establishment of warning signs and guards to protect people who might possibly come in contact with high-tension power liens. ²

It has been generally recognized that a power company must take into account the type of farming operations carried on in rural areas across which it constructs and maintains high-tension lines. The courts have held that if a company can reasonably foresee that the customary activities incident to farming operations indicate that the size and type of equipment normally used will project above the ground at more than a normal height, then a duty rests upon the electric company to suspend its wires at sufficient height to prevent persons using such equipment from innocently coming into contact with the lines. ³ The fact that an electric company erects its lines at a height which complies with the minimum standards of the National Electrical Safety Code is a factor which may be considered by a jury in determining the issue of negligence, but is not in itself a defense to the action. ⁴

The evidence reveals that many farmers engage in the growing and cultivation of corn and tobacco in Hamilton County, and that they customarily irrigate their crops by the use off pipe laid out across the areas in cultivation. The irrigation pipe so used is aluminum of five-inch diameter, and in lengths of twenty, thirty and forty feet. It further appears from the evidence that when the pipe is moved from one location to another the practice is to stand the pipe upright and strike the lower end against the ground to clear out all obstructions that might be present before reassembling it. Whether the electric company should have taken into account the type and use of such equipment, and constructed its lines at a sufficient height above the ground to protect those using such equipment in the customary manner, was properly a question for the jury. We therefore hold that the trial court did not commit error in refusing to direct a verdict for defendant or grant a new trial on this ground of its motions.

Appellant further contens that the evidence fails to establish any causal connection or relation between the alleged act of negligence and the injuries sustained by plaintiff. It urges that such proof is necessary to establish the element of proximate cause if recovery is to be allowed.

There were no eyewitnesses present at the time plaintiff was injured. He testified that prior to his injury he was connecting sections of aluminum irrigation pipe measuring thirty feet nine inches in length preparatory to irrigating his crops. Plaintiff had been assembling and using irrigation pipe on the farm in question for some two years prior to his injury, and was fully familiar with the presence of the hightension line above him which carried 72,000 volts of current, and knew the danger of coming in contact therewith. The section of pipe that plaintiff was handling was lying on the ground perpendicular to and approximately two or three feet east of a point directly beneath the transmission lines. In checking the pipe to see if it was clear of any obstruction, plaintiff raised the end of the pipe farthest from the transmission line and looked through it. Being unable to get a clear view through the pipe, plaintiff raised it to his shoulder and walked forward toward the transmission line, the easternmost end of the pipe farthest from the transmission line being inclined upward over his shoulder as he walked westward toward the center of the pipe. As plaintiff arrived at approximately midway the length of the pipe, he raised it in the air and took one step forward striking the westerly end into the ground to jar loose any obstruction. At this point the opposite end of the pipe was inclined upward at an angle of about forty-five degrees and away from the electric line. At the moment the lower end of the pipe struck the ground, plaintiff heard a sound like the popping of a bullwhip, and he was immediately thrown to the ground in a paralyzed condition. He testified that while on the ground he received several more shocks before he was able to regain his senses and summon help. The fact that he received serious electric burns and injuries is not disputed.

Plaintiff maintained steadfastly on direct and cross examination that the pipe which he held in his hands never came in direct contact with the transmission line. Had such fact been admitted or established, it is clear under the evidence that plaintiff's contributory negligence would have barred recovery as a matter of law. He stated that as he walked the pipe forward,...