Opinion ID: 2226365
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Statement of Law Applicable to Each Plaintiff

Text: The scope of the duty owed by electrical companies to move, insulate or de-energize overhead power lines is a question of foreseeability. Schultz v. Consumers Power Co., 443 Mich. 445, 452, 506 N.W.2d 175 (1993). Utility companies, particularly electric companies, are charged with a duty to protect against foreseeable harm. Id. In Dees v. L.F. Largess, 1 Mich.App. 421, 136 N.W.2d 715 (1965), the plaintiff was electrocuted when a crane came into contact with overhead power lines owned by Detroit Edison. The plaintiff, a construction worker, was holding a hook hanging from a crane when the crane's cable contacted a power line. The Court of Appeals upheld a directed verdict for Detroit Edison. The Court found that Detroit Edison was not negligent in failing to anticipate that a skilled workman, with full knowledge of the wires, would come into contact with these wires through the cable of a crane. Id. at 427, 136 N.W.2d 715. In Koehler v. Detroit Edison, Co., 383 Mich. 224, 174 N.W.2d 827 (1970), the plaintiff was killed while riding on the arm of a crane as part of his employment at a construction site, when the crane's arm came into contact with overhead electrical cables. This Court upheld the trial court's determination that the electrical company owed no duty to the plaintiff, despite its knowledge of the construction. Id. at 231, 174 N.W.2d 827. In reaching this conclusion, this Court stated: The mere fact that Detroit Edison knew a building was under Construction near its power line and that, from time to time, mobile cranes were being brought upon the premises to be used in construction work, would not, standing alone, create a duty upon Detroit Edison to remove the charge, insulate the line, or notify the parties of a dangerous condition. [ Id. ] Thus, because Detroit Edison could not anticipate that cranes on construction sites would contact its power lines, it owed no duty to that plaintiff. The Court of Appeals revisited the issue in Ransford v. Detroit Edison Co., 124 Mich. App. 537, 335 N.W.2d 211 (1983). In that case two men were electrocuted, and the plaintiff's decedent killed, when the wire-guided model planes they were flying crashed into electrical wires. Id. at 541-542, 335 N.W.2d 211. The Court found that there was no duty on the part of the power company because the occurrence was completely unforeseeable. Id. at 546, 335 N.W.2d 211. Rather, it stated that liability could not be based on such purely fortuitous circumstances. Id. Further, the Court explained that the issue of foreseeability should be determined at the time the lines were installed. Id. This Court last spoke on this issue in Schultz v. Consumers Power Co., supra . That case involved the death of a homeowner when a ladder that he was holding came into contact, either directly or through an electric arch, with a power line. The electric line had been placed 15-1/2 feet away from the preexisting house. At the time of the accident, the line was frayed and pitted. In finding a duty, this Court noted that electrical companies occupy a special role as providers of an essential, yet extremely dangerous commodity. Id. at 450-451, 506 N.W.2d 175. This special relationship with the public was found to impose a duty upon electrical companies to reasonably inspect and repair wires and other instrumentalities in order to discover and remedy hazards and defects. Id. at 451, 506 N.W.2d 175. The Court also formulated a test to determine when this duty existed in a particular case: The test to determine whether a duty was owed is not whether the company should have anticipated the particular act from which the injury resulted, but whether it should have foreseen the probability that injury might result from any reasonable activity done on the premises for business, work, or pleasure. [ Id. at 452, 506 N.W.2d 175.] The Court determined that an accident involving a homeowner was foreseeable, given the location and disrepair of the power line. The plaintiffs in Parcher and Bohnert also allege that Edison owed a duty to warn of the presence of dangerous power lines. [5] However, there is no duty to warn someone of a risk of which that person is aware. Bullock v. Gulf & Western Mfg., 128 Mich.App. 316, 340 N.W.2d 294 (1983). Specifically, there is no duty to warn of known overhead power lines. Wilhelm v. Detroit Edison Co., 56 Mich.App. 116, 224 N.W.2d 289 (1974) (finding no duty to warn severally, but finding a question of fact because the plaintiff believed the lines to be insulated). Further, the duty to warn only arises when there is a foreseeable, victim. Thus, this duty, like the duty to inspect and repair, does not arise where it is not foreseeable to Edison that the plaintiff would come into harmful contact with the wires.