Stark v. Elec. Light, H. &. P. Co.

• Decision Date: 03 June 1907
• Citation: 218 Pa. 575
• Parties: Stark, Appellant, <I>v.</I> Lancaster Electric Light, Heat & Power Company.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

218 Pa. 575

Stark, Appellant,

v. Lancaster Electric Light, Heat & Power Company.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

May 20, 1907.

June 3, 1907.

Argued May 20, 1907.

Appeal, No. 193, Jan. T., 1906, by plaintiff, from order of C. P. Lancaster Co., May T., 1902, No. 13, refusing to take off nonsuit in case of Kate Stark v. Lancaster Electric Light, Heat & Power Company.

Before MITCHELL, C. J., FELL, BROWN, MESTREZAT, POTTER and ELKIN, JJ. Affirmed.

B. F. Davis, for appellant.—The case was for the jury: Daltry v. Electric Light, Heat & Power Co., 208 Pa. 403; Block v. Milwaukee Street Ry. Co., 89 Wis. 371 (61 N. W. Repr. 1101); Western Union Tel. Co. v. State, 82 Md. 293 (33 Atl. Repr. 763); City Electric Street Ry. Co. v. Conery, 31 L. R. A. 570; Com. Electric Co. v. Melville, 210 Ill. 70 (70 N. E. Repr. 1052); N. Y. & N. J. Telephone Co. v. Bennett, 62 N. J. L. 742 (42 Atl. Repr. 759); Newark Electric Light, etc., Co. v. Ruddy, 62 N. J. L. 505 (41 Atl. Repr. 712); Haynes v. Gas Co., 114 N. C. 203 (19 S. E. Repr. 344); Fox v. Village of Manchester, 183 N. Y. 141 (75 N. E. Repr. 1116); Linton v. Weymouth Light & Power Co., 188 Mass. 276 (74 N. E. Repr. 321); Keasbey on Electric Wires (2d ed.) sec. 228 p. 252; Fitzgerald v. Edison Electric Illuminating Co., 200 Pa. 540; Dillon v. Light Co., 179 Pa. 482; Turton v. Powelton Electric Co., 185 Pa. 406; Trenton Pass. Ry. Co. v. Cooper, 60 N. J. L 219 (37 Atl. Repr. 730); Morgan v. Westmoreland Electric Co., 213 Pa. 151.

Wm. R. Brinton, with him W. F. Beyer and W. U. Hensel, for appellee.—It was the duty of the plaintiff to clearly establish the cause of the accident: Price v. Lehigh Valley R. R. Co., 202 Pa. 176; Wagner v. Traction Co., 212 Pa. 132; Sandt v. North Wales Foundry Co., 214 Pa. 215; Alexander v. Penna. Water Co., 201 Pa. 252; Allen v. Kingston Coal Co., 212 Pa. 54.

OPINION BY MR. JUSTICE FELL, June 3, 1907:

The death of the plaintiff's son was caused by an electric shock received from a wire of the Pennsylvania Telephone Company which had broken during a severe sleet storm, at night, and hung down to a pavement in the city of Lancaster. The telephone company had a number of wires on the street which were suspended at a height of forty or fifty feet. The wire of the defendant company ran parallel to the wires of the telephone company and were on separate poles from eight to fifteen feet below them. No one knew when the wire broke, but the circumstances connected with the accident would indicate that it fell when the deceased was walking under it. The defendant's wires were insulated and it was not shown that there was any defect in the insulation. After the close of the argument for a nonsuit, an offer was made by the plaintiff to prove that the telephone wire in falling had come into contact with the electric light wire and that the insulation of the latter had been worn off by friction at the point of contact. This offer was overruled, but in disposing of the motion to take off the nonsuit, the case was considered as if the offer had been proved.

The main contention of the appellant is that the defendant was negligent in not maintaining a screen or guard over its wires to prevent their contact with...