Johnson v. Knight

• Decision Date: 09 November 1978
• Docket Number: No. EC 76-24-K.,EC 76-24-K.
• Citation: 459 F. Supp. 962
• Parties: Shelia Jane JOHNSON et al., Plaintiffs, v. Donald Lee KNIGHT, doing business as Knight Electric Company, and Knight Electric Co., Inc., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi

459 F. Supp. 962

Shelia Jane JOHNSON et al., Plaintiffs, v. Donald Lee KNIGHT, doing business as Knight Electric Company, and Knight Electric Co., Inc., Defendants.

No. EC 76-24-K.

United States District Court, N. D. Mississippi, E. D.

November 9, 1978.

Claude A. Chamberlin, D. W. Houston, Jr., Aberdeen, Miss., Arthur Fite, Hamilton, Ala., for plaintiffs.

Douglas C. Stone, Thomas L. Segrest, Columbus, Miss., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

KEADY, Chief Judge.

In this diversity action, plaintiffs Shelia Jane (Johnson) Rowland, Bobby Max Satterfield and Sharon Denise (Lacey) Byrd and their parents, Wendell S. Satterfield and Marilyn Satterfield, citizens of Marion County, Alabama, sue defendants Donald Lee Knight, d/b/a Knight Electric Company (Knight), and Knight Electric Company, Inc. (Knight Company), citizens of Monroe County, Mississippi, for negligence and breach of warranty in installing an allegedly defective electrical system which plaintiffs claim caused the total loss by fire of plaintiffs' residence located near Detroit, Alabama, and practically all contents therein situated. The three Satterfield children sue as owners of the residence, which they assert had a market value of $160,000 on December 25, 1975, the date of the fire; the parents, owners of the furniture and furnishings within the residence, seek the recovery of $23,964 as the fair value of the contents loss.

The defendants admitted that Knight, prior to incorporating his business on October 8, 1975, contracted for and installed the electrical system in the plaintiffs' residence and admitted that it and the furniture therein situated were totally destroyed by fire, but they denied that they were negligent in the installation and servicing of the electrical system or that they improperly performed the work; furthermore, they denied that the fire was caused by defects in the wiring system.

In pretrial conference before the U. S. Magistrate, plaintiffs took the position that the defendants negligently installed # 12 wire which led across wooden beams in the loft of a large living room of the house to connect with three chandeliers hung from the beams, with each fixture equipped to burn 24 40-watt bulbs; that the residence was wired for 120 voltage current; that # 12 wire was too small to pull such a load on one circuit; and, moreover, that the wires connected to the chandeliers spanned too great a distance from the circuit breaker to be safe and were tied into a circuit breaker that was improperly installed for the purpose, thereby creating an unreasonably dangerous condition which caused the fire. Defendants contend that their installation and servicing of the electrical system were done in a proper and workmanlike manner without negligence or breach of warranty on their part and asserted that the plaintiffs' losses were sustained by a fire of unknown origin.

In a nonjury trial, both parties presented live testimony from lay and expert witnesses, documentary exhibits and depositions of appraisers. The court, having called for and received legal memoranda, incorporates in this opinion findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Rule 52, F.R. Civ.P.

I. FACTS

Mr. and Mrs. Satterfield, in 1972, deeded a 40-acre tract of land to their children, the other plaintiffs, for a family homestead; and the entire Satterfield family proceeded to erect, in stages extending over several years, a large residence, which contained 6,620 square feet. It was a two-story structure with a basement. The ground floor principally comprised kitchen, breakfast and dining room areas, a library and a large living room approximately 40 feet wide and 70 feet long, with a fireplace erected at one end of the room. At the opposite end, stairs went up to the second level forming a balcony which led to four bedrooms.

The downstairs living room had a vaulted roof which rose 30 feet from the floor; spanning this open area at the second floor level were 30 rough-sawed wooden beams 12" thick and spaced 30" apart. At the center of three of the beams were hung heavy, wagon-wheel chandeliers; each of these fixtures was six feet in diameter and bolted into the underside of the beam. The various stages of the construction had been directed by Mr. Satterfield, a mobile home manufacturer, who himself bought much of the material which went into the house and supervised the workmen who subcontracted different jobs. Sometime during 1974, Satterfield contacted the defendants, who had an office at Amory, Mississippi, and engaged them to do the electrical wiring. Under their verbal agreement, Satterfield procured some materials, such as switches, panel boxes, circuit breakers and all of the light fixtures. Defendant Knight furnished all labor, working on a time and material basis, for he also supplied some of the wire, panels and multibreakers used on the job.

Knight installed in the basement two 200 ampere panels which tied into a number of 20 ampere circuits; he also installed a 100 ampere panel in an upstairs closet which connected with 20 ampere circuits. There is a dispute in the evidence as to which multibreaker controlled the circuit for the chandelier lights. Knight testified that the upstairs multibreaker controlled that circuit, while Satterfield contended that the chandelier lights were controlled by the basement multibreaker. In any case, Knight used one circuit for all three lights with # 12 wire which was stapled on the topside of the three beams. At the location of each fixture, knight drilled a hole through the wooden beam and inserted the wire downward to join the fixture, which was nailed to the underside of the beam. The wire passing through the beams was not placed in conduits, and despite Knight's contrary testimony, no junction boxes were used at the point of connection with the chandeliers. The basement multibreaker was 100 feet distant from the chandeliers.

In the fall of 1975 the house was substantially completed, the Satterfield family moved in, and about December 1 they began to experience trouble with the chandelier lights going off. When this occurred, Satterfield went to the basement, where he found the multibreaker open and kicked it on to make the chandelier lights become operative. After the chandelier lights went off a number of times, Satterfield complained to Knight. One of the defendants' servicemen, a Mr. Westbrook, during the early part of December worked on the multibreaker located in the basement. Westbrook told Satterfield that he had removed the 20 ampere breaker and installed a 60 amp fuse temporarily until he could change it to proper size. A month later, after the fire, Knight told Satterfield that Westbrook had reportedly installed a "split-30" ampere breaker, or connected two 30 ampere breakers to the same circuit. In any case, after this work was done by Westbrook, no further difficulties were encountered with the chandelier lights going off. Satterfield stated that he never had any difficulty with the upstairs multibreaker. The court finds as a fact that despite Knight's testimony, the basement multibreaker controlled the circuit for the chandelier lights; moreover, the 20 amp fuse originally installed for that multibreaker was removed by Westbrook, who placed larger size fuses of 30 amperes to prevent the chandelier lights from going off.

On December 24, the Satterfield family was occupying the residence, they had a fire in the fireplace some hours earlier in the day but not at night, and the family members were busy preparing for the Christmas holiday. The chandelier lights had been on for a number of hours during that day and night. Except for Shelia Jane, who was away from home at the time, Mrs. Satterfield was the last of the family to retire. Upon entering the upstairs master bedroom at 1:30 a.m., she cut off the chandelier lights and went to bed. She was awakened about 2 a.m. by a popping, or cracking noise. Sensing that something was wrong, she went to the bedroom door and saw a flame six to eight inches high extending along the topside of the beam from where the chandelier was hung to where the beam joined the wall. Mrs. Satterfield turned on the switch controlling the chandeliers and all lights came on. This particular beam on which she noticed fire was the one nearest the fireplace and further from the switch and downstairs multibreaker than the other chandeliers. She detected no odor from the blaze nor fire at any other place in the house, but awakened her husband and other members of the household, who confirmed that the fire was first seen on the beam holding the chandelier nearest the fireplace. The fire quickly spread through the upper portion of the house, and the entire structure was soon engulfed in flames. The Satterfields were able to save only a few articles of furniture.

The undisputed evidence is that the spacious Satterfield home had fair market value of $160,000 as of the date of the fire, and the furniture and contents loss amounted to $23,964. Satterfield neglected to procure permanent insurance after the builder's risk coverage expired on December 1, 1975.

The uncontradicted proof also is that defendants installed # 12 wire to wire the chandelier circuit, and the National Electric Code specified a maximum of 20 amps to be pulled by wire of that size. With 120 voltage household current, each chandelier held 24 40-watt bulbs which pulled 960 watts on each fixture, or a total of 2880 watts for the three chandeliers. This wattage on one circuit therefore pulled 24 amperes, or four amperes in excess of the maximum allowed by the code. Knight denied that the fixtures were overloaded, testifying that each chandelier had no more than 7 bulb positions for 60-watt bulbs. The testimony of Satterfield, his wife and son that each chandelier held 24 bulbs, and that 40-watt bulbs were inserted, is more credible. Mrs. Satterfield selected the fixtures, her husband ordered them directly from a...