United Gas Corporation v. Crawford, 8088.
| Decision Date | 23 June 1943 |
| Docket Number | No. 8088.,8088. |
| Citation | 172 S.W.2d 297 |
| Parties | UNITED GAS CORPORATION v. CRAWFORD. |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
M. M. Feagin, of Livingston, and Baker, Botts, Andrews & Wharton and Albert P. Jones, all of Houston, for appellant.
Campbell & Foreman, of Livingston, for appellee.
The controlling question in this case is whether plaintiff, John C. Crawford, was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. Plaintiff sued the United Gas Corporation for personal injuries sustained by him when he fell into a hole, excavated by petitioner, in Sherman Street in the City of Livingston. Based upon findings of the jury, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of Crawford for the sum of $2,375. The Court of Civil Appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court by an opinion not published. This Court granted a writ of error on the point that petitioner's motion for an instructed verdict should have been granted by the trial court.
Petitioner is a public utility corporation, and has for some years been engaged in the distribution of natural gas in the City of Livingston. The City decided to lower the grade of some of its streets, making it necessary for petitioner to lower its gas pipe lines located on those streets, one of which was Sherman Street. Respondent was employed by the City. In connection with its work of lowering its pipe lines, petitioner caused a hole to be excavated in Sherman Street near its intersection with Houston Avenue. This hole was about six feet square and five feet deep. There was a pipe line in it elevated about eighteen or twenty inches above the bottom of the hole. Respondent was standing in the street near the edge of the hole, shoveling dirt from the street onto the sidewalk, when a small portion of the edge of the hole gave way, or caved in, causing him to lose his balance, fall into the hole, strike the gas pipe line, and break two of his ribs. He alleged that the injury was caused by the negligence of petitioner in failing to brace the walls of the hole to prevent its caving, in failing to put any boards or other substantial substance around the edge of the hole to prevent its caving in, and in failing to brace the hole in such manner as to protect the respondent and other employees of the City who had to work adjacent to the hole.
The jury found that the petitioner was negligent in failing to brace the walls of the hole and in failing to place boards or other substantial substance around the edge of the hole to prevent its caving in, and that such negligence was the proximate cause of respondent's injuries. It also found that the injuries were not the result of an unavoidable accident, and that Crawford was not guilty of placing his foot near enough to the edge of the hole for it to cave in under his foot.
Respondent was the only witness to testify in the case. H...
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