Irwin v. Georgia Power & Light Co.

• Decision Date: 04 October 1951
• Docket Number: No. 33694,No. 1,33694,1
• Parties: IRWIN v. GEORGIA POWER & LIGHT CO
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 151

67 S.E.2d 151

84 Ga.App. 665

IRWIN v. GEORGIA POWER & LIGHT CO.

No. 33694.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 1.

Oct. 4, 1951.

Syllabus by the Court.

1. (a) Where the injury complained of would not have resulted from the ordinary and natural consequences of the alleged negligence of the defendant, but was caused by the intervening act of a third party, the law will not look beyond such intervening act or agency directly causing the injury.

(b) The petition in this case shows that the death of the plaintiff's son was caused by the act of a separate and independent agency, the cutting and felling of a tree across the defendant's transmission line by the employees of a third party, and that the alleged negligence on the part of the defendant was not the proximate cause of such injury.

Luella Irwin sued the Georgia Power & Light Company for damages on account of the death of her minor son, alleged to have been caused by the negligence of the defendant. The general demurrer of the defendant to the petition was sustained and the action dismissed. So, the substantial allegations of the petition will be stated. The plaintiff alleged that she was the mother of Curtis Irwin, deceased; that he was 17 years of age at the time of his death; that she was partially dependent on him for support; and that he made substantial contributions to her support and rendered valuable services to her around the home; and that he left no widow, child or children surviving him.

It was further alleged that on November 8, 1949, and for several years prior thereto, the defendant had installed, maintained, and was using uninsulated wires conveying an electric current of 6000 volts across lands located three or four miles west of the City of Valdosta, and south of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad right of way, for the purpose of distributing electric current to the public; that the defendant failed to place caution, danger, or warning signs upon the premises or upon its poles supporting said electric wires to warn persons whom the defendant should have anticipated, in the exercise of ordinary care, to be upon said premises or working in close proximity thereto; that the defendant by the exercise of ordinary care should have known that the land of A. F. Winn, immediately south of the company's right of way and where the death of the plaintiff's son occurred, contained a thick growth of trees; that the defendant had, prior to the death referred to, cut and cleared away all of such trees on the said A. F. Winn's property which were sufficiently near said electric wires as to contract the same when felled in a northerly direction, except four trees grouped a few feet apart; that the defendant by the exercise of ordinary care should have known that numerous laborers would go upon said Winn lands for the purpose of turpentining or cutting the timber, activities which are notoriously common to the proper use by the owner of timbered lands in said locality; that the defendant should have known that such laborers would be unskilled, uneducated and untrained, and unable to cope with an emergency should felled trees contract the defendant's wires; that the uninsulated wire here involved was in a sagging, slackened condition, about 25 feet from the ground; that the posts supporting the wire were approximately 300 feet apart; that any of the four trees mentioned would contact such wire in the event that, when cut, said trees should fall in a northerly direction.

It was further alleged that on November 8, 1949, J. O. Paine was engaged in cutting and felling trees for use in his business with the permission of said A. F. Winn, which timber being cut stood immediately south of and adjoining the right of way of the defendant; that Curtis Irwin, the deceased, Toby Berrian, and Billy McKinnon, employees of said J. O. Paine, were engaged in felling and cutting said timber; that it was the duty of Berrian and McKinnon to fell trees, and the duty of Curtis Irwin to cut felled trees into size suitable for removal by truck from the woods; that on said date Berrian and McKinnon cut a pine tree, which lodged in the top of a second pine tree, and then proceeded to cut down the second pine tree in order to clear the first pine tree; that in so doing the second tree, being about 30 feet south of the wires of the defendant, fell in a northwesterly direction across one of the high-tension wires, which did not break but due to its sagging and defectively-constructed condition was brought down to within three or four feet of the ground; that Curtis Irwin, working about 300 or 400 yards away in the woods, did not see said two pine trees when they were felled but shortly thereafte came to the trees to cut them into pulpwood size; that in this manner he contacted the highly charged wire, was unable to free himself from it, and was electrocuted by the current from the wire.

It was further alleged that Curtis Irwin was uneducated, untrained and unskilled in the use, care and handling of electricity; that the deadly current conveyed by said wire was unknown to and not discoverable by Curtis Irwin through his senses of sight, hearing or smell but was well known to the defendant; and that the circumstances resulting in Curtis Irwin's death should have been anticipated when the defendant erected its high-tension lines.

The proximate cause of Curtis Irwin's death was alleged to have been the defendant's negligence in the following particulars: (a) in installing and maintaining an uninsulated wire to convey 6000 volts of electricity, in a sagging condition, too close to the ground, and too near to the pine trees which would contact the wire if felled in a northerly direction; (b) in installing and maintaining too low and too close to said trees knowing that said trees would be worked by laborers, unskilled and untrained in handling electricity, for lumber, pulpwood, posts and other purposes common to the industry...