Hill v. Carolina Power & Light Co.

• Decision Date: 02 December 1943
• Docket Number: 15594.
• Parties: HILL v. CAROLINA POWER & LIGHT CO. et al.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

28 S.E.2d 545

204 S.C. 83

HILL v. CAROLINA POWER & LIGHT CO. et al.

No. 15594.

Supreme Court of South Carolina

December 2, 1943

A Y. Arledge, of Raleigh, G. Badger Baker, of Florence, and Dargan & Paulling, of Darlington, for appellants.

Ray W. Humphrey and McEachin & Townsend, all of Florence, for respondent.

FISHBURNE Justice.

This appeal is from a judgment for actual damages in favor of the plaintiff, T. T. Hill, who was an employee of H. J. Skinner an independent contractor engaged in erecting a warehouse on property of the Nu-Idea Furniture Company in Sumter, South Carolina. Hill was a carpenter, and his injuries were received while he was working on the top of the building under construction, from an alleged disruptive discharge of electricity which arced to his body from an overhead heavily charged uninsulated wire maintained by the Power Company.

After the institution of this action, the plaintiff accepted an award under the Workmen's Compensation Act, Code 1942, § 7035-1 et seq., from the United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, the insurance carrier of H. J. Skinner and in accordance with the Act the action was continued by the Guaranty Company in the plaintiff's name.

A reversal of the judgment is sought on the grounds: That the record contains no evidence that the defendants were guilty of actionable negligence; that plaintiff and his employer were guilty of contributory negligence and assumed the risk; errors in admission of evidence, and prejudicial errors in the instructions given to the jury. Motions were duly made by the appellants for a nonsuit, directed verdict, a judgment non obstante veredicto, and a new trial, all of which were overruled.

The complaint alleges that at about 1:30 o'clock p. m. on May 26, 1938, while the plaintiff was engaged in sawing off the wooden roof sheeting which projected beyond the end of the gable of the warehouse, he received a terrific shock from an uninsulated high voltage electric wire of the Power Company, when the current arced from the electric wire to the plaintiff's back. The wire was thirty inches above the rear end of the building, and six inches beyond it; it ran parallel with the rear of the building and transmitted an electric current of 11,000 volts. The substation of the Power Company was located three feet to the rear of the building, and consisted of two poles with a platform between, eighteen feet from the ground, upon which were three transformers. A cross arm six feet above supported the high tension wire which was attached to an insulator. The electric transmission line and the transformer facilities were used for the purpose of furnishing electric power to the Nu-Idea Furniture Company, and were erected on the premises of the Furniture Company by the Carolina Power & Light Company under a contract which is in evidence, existing between the two, whereby the Furniture Company agreed to furnish without charge a suitable location on its premises, and adequate space, acceptable to the Power Company, for the installation, maintenance and operation by the Power Company of such transformers and equipment as might be used in supplying service to the Furniture Company.

The warehouse under construction rested upon brick pillars, and the walls were of corrugated iron. At the time of the accident the roof had been completely covered with sheeting, and the corrugated iron had been laid on the side opposite to where the plaintiff was working. Hill was engaged in sawing, with his left hand, the first board near the comb or ridge of the roof, and was on one knee in a stooping position, with his body leaning away, when he claims to have been struck on his left shoulderblade by the sparking electric current.

The plaintiff demonstrated to the jury his position at the time of the accident, and it appeared that his back would have reached within six inches of the electric wire above and to the left of him while he was in the act of sawing. He stated that his back did not come closer than six inches to the high voltage wire; that he felt no contact with it, and that his first knowledge of danger and of injury came when the bolt struck his shoulderblade. As a result of the shock he was knocked down on the roof unconscious, three or four feet from the wire, sustained burns upon his shoulder and upon three fingers of his right hand, and did not fully regain consciousness for several hours. It was shown that he was holding a piece of the tin roofing which overlapped the ridge of the roof from the opposite side with his right hand, in order to lift it away from the board which he was sawing.

The plaintiff claims that as a direct consequence of the electric shock he sustained a serious and permanent heart involvement. It is conceded that the plaintiff's heart is seriously impaired, but there is an issue in the case as to whether or not this condition resulted from the electric current.

The plaintiff while sawing was wet with perspiration; it was a warm, sultry, drizzly day, and the roof upon which he was working was wet. Five or six fellow workmen upon this wet roof were shocked to a minor degree by the electric current which passed through the plaintiff's body. The sheeting upon the side of the roof where the plaintiff was working had been nailed to the rafters. It may reasonably be inferred that other workmen during the progress of the construction work had occupied the same position occupied by the plaintiff while they with hammer and nails secured the sheeting to the rafters at the end of the gable. None of them had suffered any injury. Neither Hill nor any of his fellow workmen had been warned of any danger to be encountered in coming in close proximity to the high voltage wire. The plaintiff and the other carpenters testified that they saw this wire, but paid little attention to it. They knew it was there, but they did not know it was a high voltage wire; nor did they know that the current might escape from the wire and strike them if they came close to it, even without contact.

Mr. Hill was engaged mainly in farming. He knew that the Town of Timmonsville, within a short distance of his house, was electrically lighted, and so was his home, but his knowledge did not extend to the vagaries of electricity. Introduced in evidence was the shirt the plaintiff wore; two small holes had been burned in it by the electric current, about the left shoulder; one was a quarter of an inch in diameter, and the other about an eighth of an inch.

About two months prior to the accident Mr. Shelor, the owner of the Nu-Idea Furniture Company, and Mr. L. H. Harvin, the general manager of the Carolina Power & Light Company, mutually agreed to change and relocate the transformer sub-station in order to make room for the new building to be constructed upon the premises. Mr. Harvin was told by Mr. Shelor that it was the intention of the Furniture Company to put up a new building, and following this conversation this "bank" (transformer structure) was placed where Mr. Shelor wanted it. The desired location was marked out on the ground. As a result of this conference the Power Company erected the transformer station and electric facilities at the spot where they were when the accident occurred to the plaintiff.

According to the testimony for the plaintiff, the construction of the warehouse commenced about the third week in May, 1938. The new building covered the driveway or entrance into the property of the Furniture Company, which made it necessary to provide another driveway just to the rear of the structure. It was discovered, however, that a meter pole of the Power Company blocked entry to the new driveway, and Mr. Harvin was sent for in order to have the pole moved. When he came he was shown the situation. He testified that he knew that the new building would cover the entrance to the old driveway, but he denies that the foundation of the building had been laid when he visited the site with reference to the removal of the meter pole. The testimony of Mr. Windham, construction foreman, tends to show that when Mr. Harvin was there, the foundations were laid which marked the dimensions of the building, except that the foundation of the southwest corner had not been placed, in order that the old driveway might still be used until the new driveway could be opened. It may reasonably be inferred from the testimony that the foundation of the new building was laid alongside the Power Company's transformer station, and two or three feet therefrom.

After Mr. Harvin learned what was desired with reference to the removal of the meter pole, he returned next day to the building site, with Mr. Tarleton, the Power Company's line construction foreman, and measured out on the ground the new location for the meter pole. It was then moved about two feet immediately to the rear of where the building was being constructed. This pole was used to transmit the stepped-down current from the nearby transformers to the furniture factory. The work of moving the pole was done by Mr. Tarleton and his crew, and it took the better part of two days.

Mr. Windham, foreman for H. J. Skinner, testified that the manager and owner of the Nu-Idea Furniture Company instructed him where to place the building; that when they were laying the brick foundation of the new building across the entrance of the old driveway, it was necessary to leave open a space so that it could still be used for vehicles until the meter pole could be removed from the driveway to the rear. He also said that he discussed with Mr. Tarleton where the building was to be placed; he showed him how high the roof was going to be and how near it would come to the Power Company's poles and transformers; and that he was given to understand by Mr....