Fagin v. Benton Harbor-St. Joe Railway & Light Co.
Fagin v. Benton Harbor-St. Joe Railway & Light Co.
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff recovered judgment in the Berrien circuit court for personal injuries incurred while passing under an electric wire at Revinia Springs Park, a summer resort, near Benton Harbor. Defendant review's the proceedings in this court and its chief contentions are:
(1) That no actionable negligence on the part of the defendant was shown.
(2) That plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence.
(3) That a new trial should have been granted principally on the ground of newly-discovered evidence.
The testimony discloses that the resort grounds were lighted by electricity; that the resort had its own system of wires and these wires were fed by two feed wires, each carrying 220 volts, which defendant had brought up to the grounds and connected with the resort system. The testimony further discloses that the plaintiff and three companions came over on the boat from Chicago to this resort to spend the Fourth of July, in the year 1918; that upon their arrival they went to the resort and were assigned a cottage for their use during their stay. After spending the day in and about the resort they left their cottage, between 6 and 7 o'clock in the evening, intending to go to a restaurant located a short distance away. In doing so their way took them under one of the feed wires
The negligence charged by plaintiff was the failure of the defendant to properly insulate the wire, and also in permitting it to sag so that persons having occasion to pass thereunder were liable to come in contact with it. The defendant denied that the wire was low enough to interfere with' one walking thereunder, but contended that if it were as low as claimed by plaintiff it was due to the fact that the pin which held the wire to the cross arm had been broken by boys playing ball on the day of the accident, thereby permitting the wire to drop down and become suspended from the transformer which was located on the pole about five feet below the cross arm, all of which the defendant had no notice of previous to the accident.
But counsel argue that conceding the wire was as low as claimed there was no testimony showing the defendant had notice of its position. The court submitted this question to the jury and instructed them that if defendant had either actual or constructive notice that the wire was in that position, it would be guilty of negligence if it failed to remedy it within a reasonable time thereafter. The testimony of at least two witnesses was that the wire had been between 5 and 6 feet from the ground for several days preceding the accident. Whether the wire had remained in this position long enough to justify an inference of constructive notice to defendant was a question which the court submitted to the jury, and we think properly so.
It is further argued in this connection that plaintiff should have seen the wire and avoided it if it were in the position claimed by him, because it was yet daylight and within plain view, and his failure in this respect was contributory negligence, as a matter of law. Counsel seek to support this argument by the conclusions of this court in Ramsay v. C. K. Eddy & Sons, 123 Mich. 158, and Larned v. Vanderlinde, 165 Mich. 464. These cases do involve the question of lack of attention, on the part of plaintiffs, to objects in their pathway, but in both of them the danger lay directly in front of them and not above their heads. It is not unusual for wires to be strung in such places, but they are usually high enough so as not to interfere with pedestrians. Pedestrians are so infrequently interfered with by objects suspended over their heads that we ought not to say, as a matter of law, that plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence because he failed to observe the wire.
We are also of the opinion that the other grounds assigned for a retrial are without merit.
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- FAGIN v. BENTON HARBOR-ST. JOE RAILWAY & LIGHT CO.
- Status
- Published