Court Opinion

ID: 9714816
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:46:13.116348+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:28.818529
License: Public Domain

Spencer, J.,
dissenting.
I am not in agreement with the majority opinion herein, and in dissent make the following observations..
The base for the flagpole was constructed on and 3.15 feet from the east lot line of the property. The defendant owned, maintained, and operated an electrical distribution line on North Seventy-eighth Street in Omaha, Nebraska, which runs north and south in the parkway along the east side of the Connolley property but has no connection to that property. The west wire of said line is conceded to be .54 feet into the Connolley property. For the purposes of this case, it must be conceded that the defendant had no right by consent, prescription, easement, or otherwise to maintain the west wire over or upon the Connolley property. The electrical energy carried at the time of the accident was 13,000 volts. It is undisputed that there were no warning signs showing that this line carried a dangerous charge of electricity or that this highly energized wire was protruding over the property. This line did not serve the Connolley property. It was served with electricity by a transmission line behind the house from a line which comes off a pole in the southwest comer of the property.
Other than the participants, the only eyewitness wias one Emil John Torres who testified that he lives four lots south of the Connolleys, or approximately 400 feet away, and that he did not know them personally. At the time of the accident he was in his front yard and noticed some people in the Connolley front yard who were holding something straight up in the air, approximately vertical. About the same instant he noticed a yellow flash in the vicinity of the west wire. The flash was directly above what he saw the people holding. The *510flash was yellow like an arc, and was plainly visible.
There is only one issue presented in this appeal: Did the trial court err in sustaining defendant’s motion for a directed verdict, thereby removing from the jury the question of the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury? In determining whether the plaintiff’s evidence is sufficient to present a question for the jury, it must be considered in the light most favorable to him, every controverted fact must be resolved in his favor, and he must have the benefit of every inference that cam be reasonably drawn from the evidence. Reeder v. Rinne, 183 Neb. 734, 164 N. W. 2d 203.
There can be no question the defendant is a trespasser on the property involved herein. A taking of land for public use without authorization is a trespass. Martin v. Norris Public Power Dist., 175 Neb. 815, 124 N. W. 2d 221.
We are concerned here with what is described as a continuing trespass. A trespass may be committed by the continued presence on the land of a structure, chattel, or other thing which the actor or his predecessor in legal interest has placed on the land. Restatement 2d, Torts, § 160, p. 284. The actor’s failure to remove from land in the possession of another a structure, chattel, or other thing which he has tortiously erected or placed on the land constitutes a continuing trespass for the entire time during which the thing is wrongfully on the land. Restatement 2d, Torts, § 161, comment b. p.. 289:
In the instant case, the wire overhanging the property ■ of plaintiff’s parents is constantly energized and the trespass was active and operative at the moment of plaintiff’s injury. The Restatement rule on the extent of a trespasser’s liability for harm is as follows: “A trespass on land subjects the trespasser to liability for physical harm to the possessor of the land at the time of the trespass, Or to the land or to his things,'or to members Of his household or to their things, caused by any act,done,-activity, carried on, or condition created by the *511trespasser, irrespective of whether ■ his conduct is such as would subject him to liability were he not a trespasser.” Restatement 2d, Torts, § 162, p. 291.
This is not a case where we can assume that the Connolleys lost control of the pole and that it fell eastward onto the offending wire. The evidence which we must consider herein is otherwise. The reasonable inference from the testimony of the only disinterested eyewitness is that the electricity arced or jumped from the wire to the pole. This must be considered in connection with the plaintiff’s testimony that the pole was straight up; and down at the time he was knocked unconscious. When the parties were knocked to the ground, the pole fell. The marks on the; pole, shown by exhibit 29, would- indicate that the pole could have slid along the wire when it fell, after electricity jumped the gap between the wire and the pole. Defendant’s crew foreman on cross-examination admitted that after the initial contact further contact might have been made between the pole and the wire.
Plaintiff’s father was erecting the flagpole on his own property. The base he prepared for it was located more than 3 feet from the east lot line. If the defendant’s wire had not been over his property but in the parkway adjoining it, we would have an entirely different situation.- Then the authorities relied on by the majority opinion would be relevant. We cannot separate the accident herein from defendant’s trespass. Even if we assume negligence on the part of plaintiff’s father, it still took the trespass to produce the injury.
The plaintiff herein testified that he had no occasion to look up at the wires; that he had never paid any attention to them; and even if he had, he would not have know what they were. This testimony should be considered in connection with the fact that the plaintiff’s home was not served with electricity from these wires but from- one coming into the home from the rear. Pur-’ ther, he had a right to be where he was at the time of *512the accident; he was engaged in assisting his father in a family project wholly upon bis parent’s property. Defendant’s wire was suspended over this property without right.
Plaintiff could not be held contributorily negligent as a matter of law. In fact, the evidence was insufficient to submit the issue to the jury. On the facts herein, it must be assumed that plaintiff had no knowledge of the extremely dangerous character of the wire. Even if plaintiff had specifically observed the wire, there is a serious question as to whether a child of his years and experience would realize the danger. Also, he might have assumed it to be further away than it actually was. It is of interest that defendant’s crew foreman, who had considerable experience in such matters, placed the wire as 4 feet from the base of the pole. This statement, made in Henderson v. Kansas Power & Light Co., 184 Kan. 691, 339 P. 2d 702: “A high-voltage power line is one of the most dangerous things known to man. Not only is the current deadly, but the ordinary person has no means of knowing whether any particular wire is carrying a deadly current or is harmless,” is certainly appropriate herein.
Defendant was unlawfully maintaining a dangerous energized wire over the property on which plaintiff resided. Plaintiff’s injury arose out of this unauthorized invasion of that property. This continuous trespass is at the very least a proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury.
This case is not too far different from Kopka v. Bell Telephone Co. of Pennsylvania, 371 Pa. 444, 91 A. 2d 232, cited in the majority opinion. There the defendant unlawfully dug a hole on plaintiff’s property. Plaintiff was advised of this fact by a neighbor, and while searching for it fell into the hole and sustained injury. There the court said: “The liability of defendant Company for the trespass involved in the digging of the hole on plaintiff’s land without his knowledge or consent being thus established, does such liability extend to the per*513sonal injuries sustained by him as the result of his falling into the hole? The authorities are clear to the effect that where the complaint is for trespass on land the trespasser becomes liable not only for personal injuries resulting directly and proximately from the trespass but also for those which are indirect and consequential. In Restatement, Torts, § 380, it is stated that ‘A trespasser on lands is subject to liability for bodily harm caused to the possessor thereof * * * by any * * * condition created by the trespasser while upon the land irrespective of whether the trespasser’s conduct is such as would subject him to liability were he not a trespasser.’ And in comment c to this section, it is said: ‘It is, therefore, not necessary to the liability of the trespasser that his conduct should be intentionally wrongful or recklessly or negligently disregardful of the interests of the possessor * * *. Thus, one who trespasses upon the land of another incurs the risk of becoming liable for any bodily harm which is caused to the possessor of the land * * * by any conduct of the trespasser during the continuance of his trespass no matter how otherwise innocent such conduct may be.’ And in comment f to § 163, it is said: ‘So too, he (a trespasser) is liable for any harm to the possessor * * * if such harm is caused by the actor’s presence on the land, irrespective of whether it was caused by conduct which, were the actor not a trespasser, would have subjected him to liability.’
“The authorities uniformly support the principle thus stated; see, for example: Troth v. Wills, 8 Pa. Superior Ct. 1; Newsom v. Meyer, 102 Conn. 93, 128 A. 699; Brackett v. Bellows Falls Hydro-Electric Corporation, 87 N. H. 173, 175 A. 822; Ham v. Maine-New Hampshire Interstate Bridge Authority, 92 N. H. 268, 275, 30 A. 2d 1, 6; Van Alstyne v. Rochester Telephone Corporation, 296 N. Y. S. 726; Keesecker v. G. M. McKelvey Co., 141 Ohio St. 162, 170-172, 47 N. E. 2d 211, 215, 216; Wyant v. Crouse, 127 Mich. 158, 86 N. W. 527; Cribbs v. Stiver, *514181 Mich. 82, 147 N. W. 587; Bouillon v. Laclede Gas Light Co., 148 Mo. App. 462, 129 S. W. 401.”
In Card v. Wenatchee Valley Gas & Electric Co., 77 Wash. 564, 137 P. 1047, deceased came in contact with an electric power transmission line unlawfully maintained across his property. Deceased was irrigating on his land under defendant’s transmission line. He had a length of wrought iron pipe about 20 feet long, which came in contact with defendant’s transmission line. In that case, the court said: “It is finally argued that the deceased was negligent in allowing the pipe in his hands to come in contact with the wire. This, we think, was also a question for the jury, and could not be determined as a matter of law, in view of the facts we have noticed; especially in view of the fact that deceased was where he had a right to be, engaged in his usual avocation, that appellant’s wire was suspended over his land without right, and it not being shown that deceased had knowledge of the extremely dangerous character of the current carried on the wire.”