Opinion ID: 1103678
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Demurrer to Complaint.

Text: The Power Company has assigned as error the action of the court in overruling its demurrer to the complaint. As last amended the complaint contained a single count, E(1), which recites as follows: The plaintiff, Carrie S. Smith, who is the widow of Earl Smith, deceased, and William Earl Smith, Bobbie Jean Smith and Alice Sylvia Smith, minor children of the said Earl Smith, acting by their mother and next friend, Carrie S. Smith, sue as the dependents of Earl Smith, deceased, and claim $100,000.00 as damages of the defendants for that heretofore on to-wit, the 29th. day of October, 1956, the said Earl Smith, now deceased, was employed by Mitchell & Nall, Inc., a building contractor, on a construction job at R. B. Hudson High School located on, to-wit, First Avenue and Lapsley Street in the City of Selma, County of Dallas, Alabama. The plaintiffs further aver that on, to-wit, said date and day and at said time and place the defendants, C. Pierson Cosby and John J. Smedley, were engaged in the business of maintaining and operating a crane in delivering concrete to the roof of the wing of said school building which wing was under construction. The plaintiffs further aver that on, to-wit, said day and date and at said time and place the defendant Alabama Power Company was engaged in the business of distributing electric current and in connection with said business, maintained uninsulated wires or an uninsulated electric line or lines suspended in the air, charged with currents of electricity dangerous or deadly to the life or limb of human beings coming into contact or close proximity therewith, a short distance above and in close proximity to the place where the said Earl Smith, now deceased, was then working. The plaintiffs further aver that the said defendant Alabama Power Company then had knowledge or notice that said construction was being done in close proximity to its said electric power line or lines and that workmen employed in the construction of said building were working in close proximity to said electric power line or lines. The plaintiffs further aver that the defendants, C. Pierson Cosby and John J. Smedley, then had knowledge or notice that the said Earl Smith, now deceased, and other workmen employed in the construction of said building were on the roof of the wing of said school building and were a short distance below and in close proximity to said electric power line or lines and were receiving and assisting in the pouring of the concrete being delivered by said crane. The plaintiffs further aver that then and there the said Earl Smith, now deceased, was on the roof of the wing of said school building where his duties under his said employment required him to be, and where he had a right to be for the purpose of receiving and assisting in the pouring of the concrete being delivered by said crane and said Earl Smith was at the said time and place acting in the line and scope of his employment by Mitchell & Nall, Inc. The plaintiffs further aver that the said defendants, C. Pierson Cosby and John J. Smedley so negligently operated or maintained said crane at said time and place and the said defendant, Alabama Power Company so negligently caused or allowed said electric wires, line or lines to become or remain in a dangerous or unsafe condition at said time and place that said crane came in contact with or in such close proximity to said wire or wires, line or lines and that by reason thereof and as a proximate result and consequence of the aforesaid negligence of the defendants, a deadly current of electricity from said electric power wire, line or lines was caused to pass through the said crane or a part or parts thereof into the body of the said Earl Smith. Plaintiffs aver that the negligence of the defendants, C. Pierson Cosby and John J. Smedley as aforesaid and the negligence of the defendant, Alabama Power Company, as aforesaid united or concurred in proximately causing the death of the said Earl Smith. The plaintiffs further aver that at said time and place the said Earl Smith, deceased, was an employee of Mitchell & Nall, and that his death was caused by an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment; and that the said Earl Smith, deceased, and his employer at said time and place were subject to the provisions of the Alabama Workmen's Compensation Act and the plaintiffs and the said employer have agreed upon the compensation payable under the Workman's Compensation Act, and that the said Earl Smith, deceased, left surviving him three children, William Earl Smith, age, to-wit 15; Bobbie Jean Smith, age, to-wit 13; and Alice Sylvia Smith, age, to-wit 7 and his widow, Carrie S. Smith, who were dependent upon him for support, and that this action is brought by the plaintiff Carrie S. Smith for the benefit of herself as the dependent widow and by the said minor and dependent children of the said Earl Smith, deceased, by and through their mother and next friend, Carrie S. Smith. The Power Company's insistence is that Count E(1) is demurrable because plaintiffs have not alleged that the Power Company, in the exercise of reasonable care, should have anticipated that persons, or things that such persons were carrying or handling, would come in contact with the Company's electric lines, as the facts of the case show that no person, or an object being carried or handled, came into contact with such line. As we understand the brief, the Power Company insists that the complaint fails to show a duty on its part to anticipate that the decedent, Smith, or anyone else, was likely to come in contact with the power line. The Power Company appears to insist that the complaint should have alleged that the Power Company had notice, actual or constructive, that the crane would be used, as it was used, in proximity to the power line. The complaint does allege that:    the defendant Alabama Power Company was engaged in the business of distributing electric current and in connection with said business, maintained uninsulated wires or an uninsulated electric line or lines suspended in the air, charged with currents of electricity dangerous or deadly to the life or limb of human beings coming into contact or close proximity therewith, a short distance above and in close proximity to the place where the said Earl Smith, now deceased, was then working. The plaintiffs further aver that the said defendant Alabama Power Company then had knowledge or notice that said construction was being done in close proximity to its said electric power line or lines and that workmen employed in the construction of said building were working in close proximity to said electric power line or lines.    When Count E(1) in the instant case is compared with Count 1 in Sullivan v. Alabama Power Company, 246 Ala. 262, 20 So.2d 224, it appears to us that Count E(1) is sufficient. In the Sullivan case, this court held Count 1 to be sufficient and on that authority we hold the instant Count E(1) also to be sufficient.