Knox v. Sands
| Citation | 421 S.W.2d 497 |
| Decision Date | 18 November 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 2,No. 52751,52751,2 |
| Parties | Billie Louise KNOX and Frank A. Knox, Respondents, v. John SANDS and Mrs. Florence Stevens, Appellants |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Missouri |
I. Leon Kraft, Arthur J. Kase, Kansas City, for plaintiffs-respondents.
E. E. Thompson, Thomas A. Sweeny, Kansas City, for defendants-appellants, Popham, Thompson, Popham, Trusty & Conway, Kansas City, of counsel.
HENRY J. WESTHUES, Special Commissioner.
Plaintiffs, Billie Louise Knox and her husband Frank A. Knox, filed a petition in the Jackson County Circuit Court against John Sands and Mrs. Florence Stevens asking $25,000 in damages for the alleged wrongful death of their daughter, Lyssa Beth. Plaintiffs alleged that Lyssa, about two years and nine months of age, died of electrocution on June 8, 1964, at their home which they occupied as tenants of the defendants. The negligence stated was that defendants permitted a dangerous condition to be present on the rented premises which was unknown to plaintiffs.
Defendants contended they were not legally liable and that plaitniffs were guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. A trial resulted in a jury verdict for both defendants. The trial court sustained a motion for a new trial on the ground that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence. The defendants appealed. In the brief deendants contend first that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a verdict for plaintiffs and, second, that plaintiffs were guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law.
The question to be determined on this appeal is whether there is substantial evidence in the record to support a verdict for plaintiffs. If so, the order of the trial court granting a new trial must be sustained unless the evidence shows that plaintiffs were guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law.
The evidence desclosed the following statement of facts.
On June 8, 1964, plaintiffs and their four children were living in a house owned by the defendant Florence Stevens. The defendant John Sands, a brother of Mrs. Stevens, was at the time acting as her agent in the rental of the property. On this June 8, while the children were outside playing, Lyssa came in contact with a wire which carried 110 volts of electric current, causing her death.
We deem it necessary to relate the circumstances as to how and why the electric wire was where a child could come in contact therewith. In March 1963 John Sands, acting for his sister, rented the residence in question, together with outbuildings, a milk barn, and about 60 acres of land, to Homer Lowderman. Lowderman intended to operate a dairy farm and needed electric current to operate the dairy equipment at the milk barn. Her obtained permission from Sands to run electric wires from the house to the barn. Lowderman and his brother strung wires from the house by connecting wires to a fuse box in the basement of the house, thence the wires were run through the foundation at the top of the basement up the outside of the house, thence to a pole, a chicken house, another pole, thence to the barn where the wires were attached at a height of about fifteen feet. Sands was there at the time and helped by holding a ladder while Lowderman fastened the wires to the poles. All witnesses agreed that the wires were of poor quality, not sufficiently insulated and not proper wires to be used outside. In a number of places the insulation was badly worn. Lowderman soon discovered that 110 volts were insufficient to operate his equipment. He obtained permission from Sands and engaged an electrician to install wiring with 220 voltage. This was accomplished by running wires from a transformer located on the other side of a road to the milk barn. Afte rthis was installed, someone cut the old 110-volt wires at the barn but left the balance of the wire undisturbed. The result was that the current was severed at the barn but, from there to the house and the fuse box, the wires still carried 110 volts. There is no evidence that any one at any time thereafter disconnected the wires at the house or in the basement. There was evidence that a subsequent After this was installed, someone cut the therein. These wires served no purpose after the 220-volt equipment was installed. We may infer from the evidence that the installation of the wires from the house to the barn was poorly done. The wires sagged as time passed and, on June 4, 1964, were so near the ground that Lyssa, only two years and nine months of age, could and did reach them, causing her death.
Lowderman moved from the premises about September 1963. He obtained permission from Sands to sublet the house to a William Clark, Jr., who remained in the residence until March 1, 1964. Clark had had some experience with electricity and tested the wires. He testified he found no current present. However, there was no positive evidence that the wires were dead when Clark moved from the place.
After Clark vacated, Sands rented the residence and outbuildings, but not the milk barn or the land, to the plaintiffs in this case, who moved to the premises about March 15, 1964.
From the above evidence a jury would be justified in finding that the wires leading from the house to the milk barn created a very dangerous trap, likely to cause serious injury or death. Even if the fuse at the fuse box had been removed, a danger still would be present. Anyone not knowing the situation easily could replace a fuse and renew the danger. Ordinary care would have prompted the removal of the wires which served no useful purpose. Plaintiffs were told by Sands that the wires were dead.
It is our opinion that the evidence was sufficient to support a finding that defendants were negligent in permitting a dangerous situation to exist on the premises when it was rented to plaintiffs.
Whether plaintiffs were guilty of contributory negligence was a question for a jury to decide. The defendants in their brief argue that the danger was obvious and plaintiffs should have taken the proper precautions. It seems to us that in making this argument defendants assume that plaintiffs knew or should have known by the...
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Detling v. Edelbrock
...of Count I was proper because recovery for the tort injuries alleged is barred by the landlord tort immunity doctrine. See Knox v. Sands, 421 S.W.2d 497, 501 (Mo.1967); Warner v. Fry, 360 Mo. 496, 228 S.W.2d 729, 730 (1950). Appellants, apparently conceding that the common law rule bars rec......
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Young v. Kansas City Power and Light Co.
...for the wiring in the subject building is palpably untenable. The case plaintiffs cite in support of the point, Knox v. Sands, 421 S.W.2d 497 (Mo.1967), is not in point because in Knox, the plaintiff-tenant relied on an affirmative representation by the landlord as to the condition of a par......
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Nenninger v. Trustees of Oran Life Tabernacle Church, 16355
...condition if the landlord fails to disclose it to the tenant or conceals its presence from the tenant. Id. See also: Knox v. Sands, 421 S.W.2d 497, 500-01 (Mo.1967). Plaintiff did not contend in the trial court, nor does she here, that the alleged dangerous condition of the steps was unknow......