Gunn v. Edison Sault Elec. Co., Docket No. 6701

• Citation: 179 N.W.2d 680,24 Mich.App. 43
• Decision Date: 26 May 1970
• Docket Number: Docket No. 6701,No. 3,3
• Parties: Evelyn GUNN, Administratrix of the Estate of Robert P. Gunn, deceased, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. EDISON SAULT ELECTRIC COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant-Appellee
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan (US)

Page 680

179 N.W.2d 680

24 Mich.App. 43

Evelyn GUNN, Administratrix of the Estate of Robert P. Gunn deceased, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. EDISON SAULT ELECTRIC COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant-Appellee.

Docket No. 6701.

Court of Appeals of Michigan, Division No. 3.

May 26, 1970.

Released for Publication Oct. 2, 1970.

T. George Sternberg, Bay City, Brown & Brown, Associate Counsel, St. Ignace, for plaintiff-appellant.

Burney C. Veum, Sault Ste. Marie, Sugar, Schwartz, Silver, Schwartz & Tyler, Detroit, for defendant-appellee.

Before McGREGOR, P.J., and DANHOF and LARNARD, ^* JJ.

DANHOF, Judge.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of no cause of action entered by the trial judge after a nonjury trial. The matter was fully and completely tried and the trial judge filed an extensive written opinion setting forth his findings of fact and conclusions of law. Thus, the scope of our review is whether the findings of the trial court were clearly erroneous and contrary to the preponderance of the evidence, GCR 1963, 517.1; Kevreson v. Michigan Consolidated Gas Company (1965), 374 Mich. 465, 132 N.W.2d 622; Lidke v. Jackson Vibrators, Inc. (1967), 379 Mich. 294, 150 N.W.2d 737; Adams Sheet Metal Corporation v. City of Royal Oak (1968), 11 Mich.App. 657, 162 N.W.2d 114.

The facts from our examination of the record are clearly supported by a preponderance of the evidence and are as follows:

On May 15, 1961 plaintiff's decedent died as a result of a collision of an airplane, in which he was a passenger, with certain electric wires owned by the defendant stretching across a part of the St. Mary's river known as the Little Rapids Cut. The electric wires ran from the mainland near Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to Steere's Island. On or about 4:30 p.m. on May 15, 1961 plaintiff's decedent was in the rear seat of a Piper aircraft, owned and piloted by Robert J. Haines, which was returning to Michigan from a trip to Canada. Both occupants of the aircraft died as a result of the collision. The aircraft was attempting a landing on the Little Rapids Cut of the St. Mary's river in order to dock at the Municipal Marina where arrangements had been made to clear the United States customs. There were two areas used by pontooned aircraft to clear customs, Welch's Boat Dock and the Municipal Marina. Neither of these was an officially designated sea drome and each area was used approximately 50 per cent of the time. The aircraft in which the decedent was a passenger approached the cut from the north intending to land in a southerly direction since the winds on the day in question were from the southwest. It is noted that this was not the generally prevailing winds in the area, and that only 20 per cent of the aircraft using the Municipal Marina landed from the north to the south. The aircraft in question first made a right turn around an island known as Rotary Island and then banked to the left between Rotary Island and Steere's Island to go into the channel which was west of Steere's Island when it collided with the wires of the defendant. The wires ran over the water approximately 120 yards and were connected to poles both on the mainland and Steere's Island and were approximately 38 feet over the water. The accident occurred approximately 4000 feet north of the Marina. Plaintiff's decedent's body was recovered from the aircraft and an autopsy report indicated that he died from drowning. Approximately 1/2 mile south of the wires owned by the defendant and just north of the Marina was another power line crossing the Cut which was owned by the Cloverland REA. This line was connected to poles on both the mainland and an island south of Steere's Island known as Sugar Island and were approximately 90 feet high at that point. The day in question was clear, cool, with winds at approximately 15 to 25 miles per hour with gusts in excess of that. The power line owned by the defendant had been...