Powers v. Independent Long Distance Telephone Co.
Powers v. Independent Long Distance Telephone Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is an action to recover damages for personal injury alleged to have been sustained on the 29th day of June, 1907, by plaintiff’s being caught, entangled and tripped by a wire attached to a telephone pole, which pole
The answer denied the ownership of both the pole and the wire, denied having taken down said pole and placed it along said sidewalk, denied all responsibility for said pole and wire being on the sidewalk, and averred that the pole was erected long prior to the existence of the defendant corporation, and was, in the month of February, 1907, used, employed and occupied by the Bell Telephone Co. with its wires and lines, and that thereafter the appellant company discontinued the use and occupancy of said pole, and that the same was by the owner thereof, or by persons unknown to the appellant, taken down and placed as alleged in the complaint. The answer also alleges contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff.
Upon the issues thus made, the action was tried by a jury and verdict rendered and judgment entered for the plaintiff in the sum of $5,500. Thereafter a motion for a new trial was denied, and this appeal is from both the judgment and order denying the new trial.
Many errors are assigned, among them the insufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict.
It appears from the evidence that the pole in question was an old pole which had been erected and used long before the organization of the appellant corporation by persons unknown to the appellant; that in 1901 or 1902, a drop was run from the lines of the appellant company to the pole in question; that sometime thereafter another drop was attached to said pole, running from the northwest corner of Front street to the pole, thence northeast to the northwest corner of Thirteenth and Grove streets, to a pole, and thence to Dr. Noble’s veterinary barn, which two wires were the only wires of the appellant company attached to this pole during said time. In the spring of 1906, the Noble wires were cut off at the comer of Thirteenth and.,Grove, and Dr. Noble was given service from Main street; that about November, 1906, the dead Noble drops on this pole were taken down, rolled up and taken away and this pole was stripped entirely clean of
The question is directly presented as to whether, under the facts above stated, the appellant company is liable in this action. Did the fact of its having attached wires to said old pole and permitted them to remain there about four years make it liable for any damage that might result from some one, unknown to it, taking the pole down and placing it along the sidewalk, after it had abandoned the pole? Did it, by using the pole as above stated, become the owner thereof or make itself responsible for the taking down and removal of the pole?
It is clear from the evidence that the pole was not the property of the defendant unless it became so by its user, and if it ‘could acquire any kind of ownership by user merely, it might lose such ownership by abandonment, as it certainly did. If the injury had occurred from the negligence of the
Under the evidence the question of use, occupancy or ownership as between the defendant and the Bell Telephone Co. was an issue of fact solely for the jury, and the question arose as to which last used the pole and who was, at the date of the injury, responsible for it.
It appears from the evidence that the appellant company erected a new pole only a few inches from the pole in question and did not remove the latter. This is a significant fact, ■is the custom in such cases is either to cut down or remove the old pole if it belongs to the party erecting the new one. This would indicate that the appellant company had no right to or ownership in said pole. The evidence shows that appellant did not own said pole and was not liable for taking it down and placing it along the sidewalk. If the appellant company had had any right in said pole, it abandoned it by erecting a new pole close to the old one and stripping it of all wire and attaching its wires to the new pole, and a subsequent taker, appropriator or user of said pole may have become responsible and liable for all that is vested in use, occupancy or ownership. (See 6 Thompson on Negligence, sec. 7434.)
We can arrive at but one conclusion after a careful inspection of the evidence, and that is that it is not sufficient to support the verdict. All of the acts of the appellant com
A number of objections were made in regard to the admission and rejection of certain evidence. It was clearly error for the court to admit any evidence of the Bell Telephone Co. with reference to informing its main office of accidents or damage claims. Said evidence should have been rejected. The evidence shows that the pole in question was not claimed by the appellant, and it also shows the acts done by appellant in connecting its wires to said pole and thereafter stripping said pole of its wires.
The striking out of the testimony of the witness Thrailkill, who testified that said old pole did not belong to the appellant company, was error. While that evidence is a conclusion, we think it was proper to go to the jury, and the witness might have been cross-examined as to the facts on which he based that conclusion. Certain evidence had been introduced in regard to said pole not belonging to the appellant company, to the effect that they did not erect it, never claimed it, had used it only temporarily, and when through with it, stripped it of all wire and left it as they found it. However, if this were the only error in the record, we would not hold it sufficient to warrant a reversal of the case.
The evidence in regard to an action pending against the Bell Telephone Co. should have been rejected, and the court erred in admitting it. The court did not err in refusing defendant’s request to have the premises inspected by the jury. The testimony in regard to the conversation between the daughter of the plaintiff and another witness had with the attorney for the appellant company should not have been admitted. Neither party should have been permitted to introduce any testimony in regard to that conversation. The testimony in regard thereto is immaterial applied to the real merits of this case.
The giving of instructions Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8, given by the court on its own motion, is assigned as error. While some parts of each of said instructions state correct rules of law, they are not applicable to the facts of the case as developed by the evidence, and should not have been given. Instructions Nos. 2, 10 and 13 requested by the defendant and refused by the court should have been given.
For the foregoing reasons the judgment must be reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings in accordance with the views expressed in this opinion. Costs awarded to the appellant.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- MARY A. POWERS v. INDEPENDENT LONG DISTANCE TELEPHONE COMPANY
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Negligence — Personal Injury — Telephone Pole — Ownership op— Verdict — Sufficiency op Evidence — Instructions. (Syllabus by tbe court.) 1. Where it appears from the evidence that the appellant company attached its wires to a pole that had been erected by others, and left its wires so attached for about four years, and thereafter erected a pole of its own within a foot or eighteen inches of the pole to which said wires had been attached, and thereafter took all of its wires from the old pole and left the same standing in the position that it was when it attached its wires thereto, and thereafter another telephone company attached its wires to said pole and used the same for a period of two or three months, after which said pole was taken down by some one unknown to the appellant company and laid close to the sidewalk, where it remained for six weeks or two months, when the plaintiff was passing along the sidewalk and her foot was caught in a wire attached to said pole, and she was thrown violently to the sidewalk and severely injured, and upon the evidence introduced the jury rendered a verdict in her favor, held, that the evidence is not sufficient to sustain said verdict. 2. Under the evidence, held, that the appellant was not responsible for the taking down of said pole and placing it by the sidewalk, it having abandoned all the interest it had in said pole at the time it removed all of its wires therefrom several months prior to the taking down of said pole. 3. Held, that the court erred in giving certain instructions and that it erred in refusing to give certain other instructions requested by the defendant.