Title: Jackson Ready-Mix Concrete v. Sexton
Citation: 235 So. 2d 267
Docket Number: 45602
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: April 13, 1970

235 So. 2d 267 (1970) JACKSON READY-MIX CONCRETE, a Miss. Corp. v. Leroy SEXTON. No. 45602. Supreme Court of Mississippi. April 13, 1970. Rehearing Denied June 1, 1970. *268 Cox &amp; Dunn, Jackson, W.E. McIntyre, Jr., Brandon, for appellant. Barnett, Montgomery, McClintock &amp; Cunningham, Jackson, John C. McLaurin, Brandon, for appellee. SMITH, Justice. Jackson Ready-Mix Concrete, a Mississippi corporation, has appealed from a judgment of the Circuit Court of Rankin County recovered against it by Leroy Sexton, in a personal injury action. Sexton brought the suit against Allied Electric Company, Mississippi Power &amp; Light Company and Ready-Mix. However, at the conclusion of plaintiff's case, motions of Mississippi Power and Allied Electric to exclude were sustained and they went out of the case. A similar motion by Ready-Mix was overruled and, upon the close of the evidence, a request by Ready-Mix for a directed verdict was also denied. Among other errors assigned by Ready-Mix for reversal is that the trial court erred in failing to direct the jury to return a verdict in its favor. Sexton, a licensed electrician, was an independent electrical contractor doing business as Leroy Sexton Electric Service. His experience in this specialized field had extended over a period of 30 years at the time of his injury. He operated his own establishment, with his own tools, appliances, truck and safety devices and employed his own assistants or helpers. He held himself out to the public as a skilled and experienced electrician. Ready-Mix was engaged in a commercial manufacturing enterprise in which the use of electricity was incidental. It had no skilled or experienced electricians in its employ, and had contracted with Sexton from time to time to supply labor and materials for electrical jobs which required the services of an electrician with specialized skill and experience in the field. Bills submitted to Ready-Mix by Sexton for services and materials prior to the time of his injury indicate that he had been paid more than $93,000 by Ready-Mix for those items between 1961 and 1965. Among the expert services performed by Sexton for Ready-Mix included numerous safety inspections of the electrical installations at its plant. On the occasion of Sexton's injury, he had been called in by Ready-Mix to install an additional line on an existing pole belonging to and located upon the private premises of Ready-Mix. Sexton testified that he knew that these wires carried a 480 volt current of electricity and knew that the current was "on." He had worked on this particular pole at least twice previously, once at the very top. *269 It was broad daylight and Sexton was in full possession of his faculties, when he began climbing the pole. No employee of Ready-Mix was present, his helper was his own employee, the method of doing the job was chosen by Sexton and he employed his own tools and selected which of the several safety devices (rubber gloves) he would use and which he would not use. On one former occasion when he had worked on this pole he had used a ladder but this time he elected to climb it instead. Among the safety devices which he elected not to use, but which he had in his truck with him, was a rubber blanket for covering uninsulated wires and connections and electrical tape also suitable for that purpose. He did not request any assistance from Ready-Mix nor did he ask for advice or tools. He had climbed to a point where, as he expressed it, his eyes were "a hand's reach" from the wire, and was reaching around to fasten his safety belt when he brought his unprotected elbow into contact with an uninsulated kerney and received a shock, which caused him to fall to the ground and to injure himself severely. There had been nothing to prevent his seeing the uninsulated kerney into contact with which he had brought his elbow, and he testified that he did see it immediately after his fall and from his position on the ground. He had not seen it before because he had not looked while trying to fasten his belt. It is alleged that Ready-Mix was negligent in failing to warn Sexton that the uninsulated copper fittings had darkened in the processes of natural weathering and in having too many lines on the pole for safety. However, it is clear from Sexton's own testimony that the exercise of the slightest care on his part could not have failed to disclose both of these conditions to him. In fact, he testified that he knew that weathering caused exposed copper to darken rapidly, and, of course, the number and location of the wires were readily apparent. This was not, as alleged, a "dangerous trap" for an experienced and skilled electrician. This was a private installation on the private property of a consumer. It was not an installation of a public utility. Ready-Mix, like any lay consumer of electric energy, having an electrical problem, called in Sexton as a specialist to handle the job. In the light of Sexton's experience and familiarity with the dangers inherent in dealing with electricity and his knowledge of the Ready-Mix plant through his numerous inspections and particularly because of his personal work on this very pole, it is beyond question that no one knew more about the situation than did Sexton. As an electrical contractor Sexton was a business invitee of Ready-Mix. The duty of an owner toward such an invitee is discussed in 65 C.J.S. Negligence § 63 (1966). See also 38 Am.Jur. Negligence section 97 (1941). In General Tire &amp; Rubber Company v. Darnell, 221 So. 2d 104, 107 (Miss. 1969), this Court said: In Mississippi Power &amp; Light Company v. Nail, 211 So. 2d 815, 820 (Miss. 1968) the Court quoted with approval from an opinion of the Supreme Court of Maryland, as follows: In Nail a written warning had been given to an employee of an independent contractor who had no familiarity with electricity. Here, electricity was Sexton's business. 65A C.J.S. Negligence § 203 (1966), states: In Campbell v. Willard, 204 Miss. 783, 792, 39 So. 2d 483, 484 (1949) the Court said: In United Roofing And Siding Company v. Seefeld, 222 So. 2d 406 (Miss. 1969), it was held that a plumber had assumed the risk when he injured himself by stepping on a nail in a scrap of lumber at a construction site. The Court pointed out that while Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated section 1456 (1956) had abolished the assumption of risk as between master and servant the doctrine had not been abolished as to an independent contractor. The Court quoted 41 Am.Jur.2d Independent Contractors section 28 (1968) as follows: In Langford v. Mercurio, 254 Miss. 788, 802, 183 So. 2d 150, 156 (1966) this Court said: In Prosser, Law of Torts section 55 (2d ed. 1941), it is stated: The incontrovertible basic facts of the incident cannot be obscured or gainsaid. Sexton, a professional electrician of long experience, in broad daylight, in his own good time, with his own helper, employing such of his own tools and safety devices (rubber gloves) as he elected to use (and omitting to use others which he had with him), while climbing (a method he selected) a pole strung with wires (several of which he had installed himself), well *272 knowing that such wires were charged with electricity, fully aware that uninsulated copper wires and fittings darkened in the natural processes of weathering, all of the wires and fittings on the pole being plainly visible if he had but looked and the pole being one with which he was familiar from having climbed it on former occasions, brought his unprotected elbow into contact with a copper fitting and received a shock which caused him to let go and fall to the ground and injure himself. On the whole record, it is clear that the sole proximate cause of Sexton's injury was his own negligence and complete want of care in bringing his unprotected elbow into contact with the kerney. Moreover, under the basic circumstances of the accident which cannot be disputed, Sexton assumed the risk. The request of Ready-Mix that the jury be instructed peremptorily to return a verdict in its favor should have been granted. Reversed and judgment here for the appellant. GILLESPIE, P.J., and RODGERS, PATTERSON and ROBERTSON, JJ., concur.