Opinion ID: 2338736
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: duty to trim climbable trees

Text: BGE next contends that a public service company has no legal duty, as a matter of law, to identify and trim climbable trees near its overhead electric distribution wires. BGE further requests this Court to remand the case so that proper jury instructions may be issued because the trial court erred when it refused to instruct the jury that a public utility company does not owe any legal duty or obligation to children who may climb trees in the vicinity of its overhead lines and that a public utility has no legal duty or obligation to trim trees near its overhead electrical distribution system for purposes of public safety. [6] In order to have a valid action for negligence, the plaintiff must prove: (1) that the defendant was under a duty to protect the plaintiff from injury, (2) that the defendant breached the duty, (3) that the plaintiff suffered actual injury or loss, and (4) that the loss or injury proximately resulted from the defendant's breach of the duty. Rosenblatt v. Exxon, 335 Md. 58, 76, 642 A.2d 180, 188 (1994). A legal duty arises from the `responsibility each of us bears to exercise due care to avoid unreasonable risks of harm to others.' B.N. v. K.K., 312 Md. 135, 141, 538 A.2d 1175, 1178 (1988)(quoting Moran v. Fabergé, 273 Md. 538, 543, 332 A.2d 11, 15 (1975)). An important factor used to determine the existence of a duty is foreseeability. B.N., 312 Md. at 141, 538 A.2d at 1178. As this Court stated in Faya v. Almaraz, [t]he seriousness of potential harm, as well as its probability, contributes to a duty to prevent it. 329 Md. 435, 449, 620 A.2d 327, 333 (1993) (emphasis in original). An electric company that maintains a dangerous instrumentality, such as a high voltage electric wire, is not required to anticipate every possible circumstance under which an individual might make contact with the electric wire, resulting in injury or death. Le Vonas v. Acme Paper Board Co., 184 Md. 16, 21, 40 A.2d 43, 45 (1944). However, an electric company has a duty to use reasonable care to avoid injury to persons who are in lawful proximity to its electric wires, and who could reasonably be anticipated to come, accidentally or otherwise, in contact with them. See Stansfield, 123 Md. at 125-26, 91 A. at 151; Brown v. Edison Elect. Co., 90 Md. 400, 406, 45 A. 182, 183 (1900); see also Conowingo Power Co. v. State of Maryland, 120 F.2d 870, 873 (4th Cir.1941). BGE asserts that it is unduly burdensome, impractical and unfair for the intermediate appellate court to impose a duty to locate and trim every `climbable' tree that might conceivably be involved in a contact with BGE's overhead electrical distribution system. No such duty is imposed on BGE. We agree with the Court of Special Appeals that, based on the circumstances in the instant case, a jury could reasonably find that BGE had a duty to trim the particular tree that Flippo was climbing or insulate the wire that ran through the tree. Flippo, 112 Md. App. at 88, 684 A.2d at 462. We do not hold that BGE has a blanket duty to trim all trees that are located near its overhead electric wires. Id. Although this Court has not had occasion to address a case on point factually with the case before us, many other jurisdictions have done so. The majority of jurisdictions that have addressed this issue have sustained a finding of negligence by electric companies where children are injured by making contact with electrical wires while climbing trees, when the risk of such harm is foreseeable. See, e.g., Dolata v. Ohio Edison Co., 2 Ohio App.3d 293, 441 N.E.2d 837 (1981) (where child was electrocuted when he came in contact with power line while climbing a locust tree located on his family's property, power line ran in close proximity to locust tree, tree had not been trimmed by power company since 1973, and tree was easily climbable with large outreaching branches, evidence was sufficient to support jury's finding that power company was negligent); Petroski v. Northern Indiana Pub. Service Co., 171 Ind.App. 14, 354 N.E.2d 736 (1976) (electric company owed boy injured while climbing a tree that electric company had failed to trim a duty to protect him against high voltage wires running through the tree when the possibility of injury was foreseeable); Alabama Power Co. v. Taylor, 293 Ala. 484, 306 So.2d 236 (1975) (trial court's directed verdict for plaintiff against defendant electric company was proper when child was injured while attempting to climb a tree with low branches that had not been trimmed in seven years and grew beside a public alley in a residential neighborhood occupied by numerous small children). But see Brown v. Panola Light and Power Co., 137 Ga. 352, 73 S.E. 580 (1912); Smith v. Georgia Power Co., 43 Ga.App. 210, 158 S.E. 371 (1931) (electric company is generally not liable for injuries sustained by children who, while playing in trees, come into contact with electric wires). We adopt the view of the majority of states and hold that, under the facts of this case, there was sufficient evidence to permit a jury to conclude that BGE could have reasonably foreseen that a child may have been injured as a result of its failure to trim the tree that Flippo was climbing or insulate the electric wire that ran through the tree. First, BGE possessed a nonexclusive easement over the residential development that included the Gaineses' property at 1512 Pickford Lane. Pursuant to this easement, BGE had extended overhead electric wires parallel to the rear property lines of lots in a residential neighborhood and had the right to trim, top or cut down trees adjacent to the wires in order to provide clearance. In addition, evidence was presented that BGE classified certain trees as climbable, i.e., easy to climb with low branches; that the white pine tree Flippo was climbing was easy to climb and that BGE was aware of the existence of such climbable trees. Evidence was also presented that children had a tendency to climb the trees in the neighborhood, including the tree involved in this case. Furthermore, the fact that some of the limbs of those trees were in close proximity to and actually surrounding the electric line creat[ed] a foreseeable hazard to a young child who might be tempted to climb one of those trees without observing or appreciating the significance of the electric line. Flippo, 112 Md.App. at 90, 684 A.2d at 463. In light of this evidence, a jury could reasonably conclude that BGE's duty to exercise a high degree of attention and care included the duty to trim, top, or cut down such a climbable tree. Accordingly, the case was properly submitted to the jury.