Opinion ID: 1105996
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: CAN A MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION APPROVED POLICY SUPPLANT OR MODIFY ENTERGY'S DUTY TO MAKE AN INSTALLATION SAFE CONTRARY TO THIS COURT'S HOLDING IN Entergy Mississippi, Inc. v. Burdette Gin Co., 726 So.2d 1202 (Miss.1998)?

Text: ¶ 15. Ware next argues that Entergy's duty to make the installation of the high voltage line safe is not modified or supplanted by the PSC approved rate policy. Ware contends that regardless of what rate is charged to customers, Entergy still has to adhere to the duty of care set forth by this Court's decisions. In response, Entergy invites this Court to clarify the standard of care which it owes the general public in light of the legislative amendments subsequent to our decision in Entergy Mississippi, Inc. v. Burdette Gin Co., 726 So.2d 1202 (Miss.1998). In Burdette Gin, we held that public policy in Mississippi required utilities to exercise a very high degree of care in protecting the public from the dangers of electricity and that an indemnity clause approved by the PSC was void as a matter of public policy, because it unnecessarily shielded Entergy from its own potential negligence in constructing and maintaining its electrical lines. Burdette Gin, 726 So.2d at 1208 (¶ 17). ¶ 16. In 2002, well after the underlying incident, the Mississippi Legislature amended Miss.Code Ann. § 11-27-43, to include a duty of care. As amended, the statute reads as follows: (1) All companies or associations of persons incorporated or organized for the purposes set forth in Section 11-27-41 are authorized and empowered to erect, place and maintain their posts, wires and conductors along and across any of the public highways, streets or waters and along and across all turnpikes, railroads and canals, and also through any of the public lands, and to do such clearing as may be reasonably necessary for the proper protection, operation and maintenance of such facilities, provided in all cases such authorization shall meet the requirements of the National Electrical Safety Code. The same shall be so constructed and placed as not to be dangerous to persons or property; nor interfere with the common use of such roads, streets, or waters; nor with the use of the wires of other wire-using companies; or more than is necessary with the convenience of any landowner. [3] (2) The duty of care owed to the public by owners and operators of public utility facilities located adjacent to a highway, road, street or bridge in this state is satisfied when: (a) With respect to state highways, the public utility facilities comply with the provisions of the applicable edition of the National Electrical Safety Code for structure placement relative to roadways. Miss.Code Ann. § 11-27-43 (Supp.2003). Entergy asserts that this amended statute overrules the standard set forth in Mississippi Power & Light Co. v. Lumpkin, 725 So.2d 721 (Miss.1998). [4] ¶ 17. Prior to our decision in Lumpkin, the standard of care placed on public utility companies in the maintenance of structures on the rights-of-way of public roads was that which was set forth in Vines v. Southwestern Elec. Power Ass'n, 241 Miss. 120, 129 So.2d 396 (1961). In Vines, a guest passenger was killed when the car which he occupied left the traveled portion of the road, went 150 feet in a ditch, and collided with a power line pole which was located approximately 4 feet from the traveled portion of the road. All four occupants of the car, including the driver, had been drinking beer. The light pole collapsed and the energized power line fell to the ground. Vines exited the vehicle, came into contact with the downed power line, and was electrocuted. In citing the predecessor statute to Miss.Code Ann. § 11-27-43, we stated, inter alia: In the case at bar the pole was not within that portion of the right-of-way designed for public travel and no one making the ordinary use of the road and exercising reasonable care and caution would travel where the pole was located.         The general rule established by the modern authorities is that a public utility company lawfully maintaining a pole in or near a public highway is not liable for the damage to a person or property resulting from a vehicle striking such pole, unless it is erected on the traveled portion of the highway or in such close proximity thereto as to constitute an obstruction dangerous to anyone properly using the highway, and the location of the pole is the proximate cause of the collision. [5]         Viewing the facts in the case at bar in the light most favorable to [the wrongful death beneficiaries], we are of the opinion that the sole proximate cause of the death of Richard Vines was the negligence of the driver of the automobile and the defect in the automobile. Even if the defect in the automobile made it difficult or impossible for the driver to steer the car, there was no reason whatsoever for him to continue traveling a distance of 150 feet outside the traveled portion of the road without ever applying his brakes. This was not a proper use of the highway.         Of course, when they [power lines] are knocked down, they become dangerous, but danger is not synonymous with negligence; and where the danger results solely from the careless act of another in causing the power lines to be knocked down, as was the case here, we do not think the degree of care required makes it a jury case.         We do not think the utility must guard against dangers resulting from vehicles leaving the traveled portion of the highway and knocking down the power poles, as already stated. Moreover, if the lines are knocked down, they must fall some place. If they had fallen on the automobile, the danger may have been greater. The fact that they fell in the highway was not the proximate cause of the death of Vines. The sole proximate cause was the manner in which the automobile was driven. 241 Miss. at 128-30, 129 So.2d at 399-400. ¶ 18. In Lumpkin, the facts were remarkably similar to those in Vines. On a November night, Tackett, who admitted to having consumed four or five beers that night, was driving several passengers from Philip back to Greenwood on the Money Road. Tackett tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a curve in the road, leaving the roadway and severing a utility pole which caused the power lines to fall to the ground. One of the passengers, Kristen, exited the vehicle, unaware of the fallen power lines. Kristen was shocked upon coming in contact with the fallen power lines, but she miraculously survived; however, her injuries were severe  third degree burns to the left wrist and severe burns which extended from her wrist to her shoulder, and from her buttocks to her lower back area. She had very little flesh remaining on her left forearm. Kristen eventually endured four operations, including one to amputate her left arm, a portion of her left shoulder, and a portion of her chest. Because of the admittedly similar facts in Lumpkin and Vines, we were requested in Lumpkin by Mississippi Power and Light Company (MP & L), the owner of the power lines in question, to follow our prior decision in Vines and thus exonerate it from any liability for Kristen's injuries. ¶ 19. In a plurality opinion, [6] we stated, inter alia: [W]e are asked to determine whether, under any circumstances, a utility company may be held liable for injuries sustained when an admittedly negligent driver collides with a pole constructed for the purpose of distributing electricity, when the pole is located within the public right-of-way off the main-traveled portion of a road. MP & L argues that [ Vines ] answers the question as follows: if someone goes off the maintraveled portion of the road, thus taking the driver out of the category of drivers making ordinary or common use of the road, the utility company is not subject to liability. MP & L maintains that electric utilities are not required to place their poles in order to insure the safety of reckless drivers. According to MP & L, the reason it only has a duty of reasonable foreseeability to those making a proper use of the road is because predicting where reckless drivers such as Tackett will leave a roadway is always unforeseeable. In other words, MP & L suggests that it should not be charged with the responsibility of protecting against negligent drivers who collide with a pole that is located within the public right-of-way but off the main-traveled portion of the road. 725 So.2d at 726. The four-justice plurality in Lumpkin stated that it was overruling Vines, and in so doing, held: Today we adopt a standard which requires those who place structures in rights-of-way pursuant to the statute to exercise reasonable care under the circumstances for the safety of those making common use of the right-of-way. It shall not be a bar to liability that contact with the structure occurs only after the driver, through misfortune or ordinary negligence, has left the main traveled portion of the right of way. In determining whether the placement of a pole may be considered unreasonably dangerous such that liability may follow, the trial court should consider such factors as the structure's proximity to the roadway, the configuration of the roadway, whether the utility had notice of previous accidents of sufficient similarity to give reasonable notice of the danger, and whether there are feasible alternative locations for the structure which are less dangerous. See McMillan [v. Michigan State Highway Comm'n, 426 Mich. 46], 393 N.W.2d [332] at 339 [1986]; Scheel v. Tremblay, 226 Pa.Super. 45, 312 A.2d 45, 46 (1973). Lumpkin, 725 So.2d at 730 (¶ 44). ¶ 20. We could go further in addressing what precedential value we should afford the plurality decision in Lumpkin, wherein four justices of this Court voted to overrule Vines, and adopt a new standard as to the duty of utility companies in the placement of their poles or other structures on the road rights-of-way. However, because of the herein discussed inapplicability of Lumpkin and Vines to the case sub judice, we save that issue for another day. ¶ 21. We again mention, as already noted, that while the facts in both Vines and Lumpkin are quite similar, the facts in the case sub judice, by comparison, are on the other hand quite different. Today we are not confronted with intoxicated automobile drivers traveling off the road and clipping light poles on the right-of-way, thus causing downed power lines, and guest passengers exiting the vehicles and coming into contact with the downed power lines. Instead, we are confronted today with facts revealing construction workers presumably experienced in working with, and in close proximity to, energized powers lines, while working on MDOT's damaged underground power line, bringing a metal light pole into contact with a clearly visible Entergy overhead power line  a power line which remained energized because no one ever put Entergy on notice that repair work would be performed that day in an area in close proximity to its overhead power line. ¶ 22. Entergy argues that the duty of care is met by compliance with the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) and not compliance with NESC as well as reasonable care. Entergy asserts that because it met, or even exceeded, the NESC horizontal and vertical clearances, Entergy cannot be held liable in this instance due to the overhead placement of the high voltage lines. We find these assertions to be without merit. Public policy in Mississippi requires utilities to exercise a very high degree of care in protecting the public from the dangers of electricity. Burdette Gin, 726 So.2d at 1208 (¶ 17); Miss. Power & Light Co. v. Shepard, 285 So.2d 725, 729 (1973). There is also a duty on power companies to anticipate and guard against events which may be reasonably expected to occur, and the failure to do so is negligence, even though the power company may not anticipate the identical injury that occurs. Id. at 729 ( citing 29 C.J.S. Electricity § 38, at 1058-59 (1965)). ¶ 23. Miss.Code Ann. § 11-27-43, both before and after the 2002 amendment, requires, inter alia, that (1) the NESC requirements are met, (2) the poles are constructed and placed as not to be dangerous to persons or property, (3) there is no interference with the common use of such roads, streets, waters, or with the use of the wires of other wire-using companies, and (4) the construction does not unnecessarily inconvenience any landowner. Subsection (1) of Miss.Code Ann. § 11-27-43 remains unchanged as it has at least since the adoption of the 1972 code. [7] Even today, the Legislature still places on the public utility companies the responsibility of the placement and maintenance of its poles and wires in compliance with NESC in such a way as to not be dangerous to persons........nor interfere........with the use of the wires of other wire-using companies.... Miss.Code Ann. § 11-27-43(1) (Supp.2003). ¶ 24. The NESC provides minimum guidelines and the basic provisions that are considered necessary for the safety of employees and the public under the specified conditions but are not intended as a design specification or as an instruction manual. NESC, Section 1, ¶ 010. We have previously recognized that a violation of the minimum standards established by the NESC constitutes negligence per se. See Gifford v. Four-County Elec. Power Ass'n, 615 So.2d 1166, 1173 (Miss.1992). We have held that there is no negligence per se for a utility company who has complied with the minimum safety standards of the NESC but that compliance is not conclusive as to the question of due care under particular circumstances. Galloway v. Singing River Elec. Power Ass'n, 247 Miss. 308, 152 So.2d 710, 712 (1963). ¶ 25. We find that even prior to the 2002 amendment, the Legislature intended that compliance with NESC is sufficient, so long as the compliance does not render a dangerous situation to persons or property, nor interfere with the common usage of roads, streets, or highways, nor interfere with the use of the wires of other wire-using companies. Thus, it is appropriate to submit to the jury the issue of whether Entergy's placement of these uninsulated high voltage lines in 1996 complied with Entergy's duty of care as set out herein by statute and the NESC, when read in pari materia, as well as our case law.