Court Opinion

ID: 9520790
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:49:59.600169+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:46:57.095775
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, Judge,
concurring.
Here, I believe AEC owed a duty of reasonable care to Goodrich because of the relationship between the two. AEC was well aware of the necessity of making maintenance repairs and replacements to residential roofs in the area and that roofing contractors and their employees would be in proximity to power lines. Certainly, *799foreseeability of injury to such workmen existed here. Therefore, although members of the general public, ie., those traveling upon the land, were not at risk because the lines were located twenty-three feet above the ground, persons such as Goodrich, by reason of his employment, could be expected to be at risk by uninsulated lines located less than eight feet from where Goodrich, or others like him, would be expected to be working.
Be that as it may, this issue was not decided as a matter of law by the partial summary judgment. Rather this very issue was submitted to the jury. See Brown v. N. Indiana Pub. Serv. Co., 496 N.E.2d 794 (Ind.Ct.App.1986) (summary judgment reversed), trans. denied.
Presumably, the jury had in mind a duty on the part of AEP to exercise reasonable care as to the workmen like Goodrich. The fact remains that the jury found no fault on the part of AEP.
It is difficult to conceive that under the circumstances here present any reasonable jury would fail to find that there was a breach of the duty of reasonable care. Placing uninsulated power lines within eight feet of a roof upon which the residence owner or workmen would foresee-ably and not rarely engage in such activities as gutter cleaning and maintenance, window washing, chimney cleaning, and, as here, roof drip-edge replacement or repair would clearly seem to breach the duty. This is particularly so in light of the acknowledged fact that the lines were located closer to the house than the ten-foot distance within which such workmen were, by OSHA regulation, precluded from operating. To the extent that Spudich v. N. Indiana Pub. Serv. Co., 745 N.E.2d 281 (Ind.Ct.App.2001), trans. denied, may be read as contrary to my position, I would decline to follow it.
It is perhaps this very fact, i.e. violation by North Central Roofing of the ten-foot regulation, which led the jury to conclude that North Central was ninety percent at fault, Goodrich himself as an employee of North Central was ten percent at fault, and that AEP was not at fault-at least to the extent that any such fault was a proximate cause of Goodrich's injury.
Accordingly, although I cannot help but conclude that AEP owed a duty of reasonable care to Goodrich and that AEP breached that duty by the manner and location of its uninsulated power lines, I nevertheless also conclude that the jury was within its discretion in concluding that AEP was not liable for Goodrich's injuries. For this reason I concur in affirmance of the grant of partial summary judgment and in the judgment entered upon the jury verdict.