Court Opinion

ID: 9671537
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:38:34.037588+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:10.556810
License: Public Domain

John A. Fogleman, Justice, dissenting in part. I concur in the result reached by the majority holding that there was evidence to pose jury questions as to appellant’s negligence and the proximate cause. I would have grave doubt that the actions of Daniel were sufficiently foreseeable to justify a finding of negligence or that his injury or the manner in which it was. inflicted was a natural and probable consequence of the omissions of Woodruff, if it were not for the testimony relating to the reasons for not de-energizing the 7620-volt line which was serving no one. Even though its disuse seemed to justify the removal of a supporting pole, there was testimony tending to show that the reason for leaving the line charged was to prevent theft of the wire. Not only was there testimony that officials of appellant had stated that numerous people were stealing wire in its service area, these officials admitted that one of the reasons for leaving unused lines “hot” was to prevent the continual thefts of wire which they had been experiencing. Thus, it seems that appellant might possibly have foreseen the cutting of wire on a line, which might, from appearances, have been taken to be an abandoned line, and that such cutting might be a natural and probable consequence of leaving an inadequately supported line sagging over farmland at a height which would prevent the passage of ordinary farm equipment thereunder. I do not agree that it must, or can be said, as a matter of law, that appellee was not a trespasser. It seems to me that we could come nearer saying that when he undertook, on his own initiative, to cut and remove appellant’s transmission lines, he became a trespasser as a matter of law. Certainly, his right to do so could not be any greater than that of his employer, the owner of the servient estate. Daniel testified that: He had seen the line every day before his injury and knew that it had been sagging for better than a year; he pulled up beside the line and decided he would cut it; he stopped his tractor, went to his tool box, got his pliers, drove his tractor under the lower of two wires, got on the chemical tank on the tractor on his hands and knees and cut this wire, which was then about the level of his chest, then got off the tractor and wrapped this wire around a post; he got back on his tractor and moved it 25 to 50 feet in order to place it under the second wire which was about two feet higher1 than the one he had first cut, again knelt on the tractor just as he had done when he cut the lower wire, reached up with his left hand and grasped the wire and received the shock and injury of which he complains. The tractor was an 806 International, with 100-gallon tanks for chemicals on the fenders. There was testimony that the tractor was six feet high and that the top of the tanks was about two feet higher, and that Daniel, kneeling, rose some three feet above the level of the top of the tank. Although we do not know the exact terms of the easement involved, it is stipulated that appellant had been granted a right-of-way for the construction of an electric distribution line across the employer’s land in order to serve a house, also on his land. In the absence of any showing of a limitation on that easement, appellant as the owner of the dominant estate had the right to use it to the extent necessary for the erection, operation and maintenance of the line, and the landowner as the holder of the servient estate retained the right to exercise all rights of ownership not inconsistent therewith. Neither has the right to use the right-of-way in a manner that will interfere with the use and enjoyment thereof by the other. Davis v. Arkansas Louisiana Gas Co., 248 Ark. 881, 454 S. W. 2d 331. The landowner must not interfere with the property of the utility to whom the easement is granted. Patterson Orchard Co. v. Southwest Arkansas U. Corp., 179 Ark. 1029, 18 S. W. 2d 1028, 65 A. L. R. 2d 1446; Drainage District No. 16 v. Holly, 213 Ark. 889, 214 S. W. 2d 224. The unlawful and intentional injury of a wire, line or other apparatus belonging to a firm or corporation engaged in the sale of electricity is a misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprisonment or both. Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-4236 (Repl. 1964). This, of course, is a form of trespass. See Miller v. State, 190 Ark. 362, 159 S. W. 1125. Even if Daniel originally entered upon appellant’s right-of-way with the most innocent intentions, his subsequent action in cutting or attempting to cut the wires was nonetheless a trespass, if unwarranted or illegal under the circumstances, and as to those actions he was probably a trespasser. Ballard v. Noaks, 2 Ark. 45. The subject is given excellent coverage in Restatement, Torts, Second 407, §214. There we find: Liability for Excess; Trespass ab Initio (1) An Actor who has in an unreasonable manner exercised any privilege to enter land is subject to liability for any harm to a legally protected interest of another caused by such unreasonable conduct. (2) One who properly enters land in the exercise of any privilege to do so, and thereafter commits an act which is tortious, is subject to liability only for such tortious act, and does not become liable for his original lawful entry, or for his lawful acts on the land prior to the tortious conduct. Comment on Subsection (1): a. A privilege to enter land may be unreasonably exercised either by the intentional doing of an act which a reasonable man would not regard as necessary to effectuate the purposes for which the privilege is exercised. Subsection (1), therefore, applies not only where the actor deliberately abuses his privilege by doing an act which he recognizes as unnecessary or deliberately does an act which a reasonáble man would so recognize, but also where the actor does not use reasonable care to prevent the exercise of his privilege from involving an unreasonable risk of harm to the legally protected interests of others. b. In the vast majority of cases the intentional or negligent misconduct of the actor in the exercise of his privilege is of such a character as to be intended to harm or likely to harm the land itself or persons or chattels upon it. However there may be cases in which the actor’s unreasonable exercise of his privilege involves a recognizable and unreasonable risk, or even a certainty, of harm to persons or things outside the land, in which case the statement in this Subsection subjects the actor to liability ,to such persons for harm resulting to them. c. As to the effect of serious affirmative misconduct on the part of the actor upon his liability for his original entry on the land, see Subsection (2). * # # Comment on Subsection (2): * # # , (f) In any case where the lawful entry upon land is used as a cover or cloak for the subsequent misconduct, and the entry is for the purpose of taking advantage of the privilege conferred by authority of law in order to commit another tort, the actor remains liable under Subsection (1) of this Section. The subsequent misconduct is always to be considered as evidence bearing on the original intent. To say the least, there is certainly substantial evidence upon which a jury could have found that Daniel was a trespasser. If there is indeed a jury question as to foreseeability in determining whether appellant was negligent and a question as to proximate cause if appellant was negligent, then I do not see why there is not also a jury question on appellee’s entitlement to punitive damages. There can be no doubt that appellant knew that its 7620-volt distribution line passed directly over agricultural lands being cultivated by the use of power-driven equipment. It knew that the line had served no one for two years. It removed a supporting pole at the middle of the span leading to the house formerly served, approximately one year- prior to Daniel’s injury. It knew that the line would sag. There is evidence from which the jury might find that removal of the line had been requested by the landowner and that the line was interfering with farming operations. Appellant had a duty to exercise a high degree of care to inspect and maintain its line in proper condition to prevent injury to one likely to come in contact with it. Yet, it cannot be doubted that the line did sag below the height prescribed by safety standards, and appellant certainly knew that the sag would be greater in the summer than in the winter.2 Even though appellant claims it was short of money which could be used to remove abandoned lines, the removal was a rather simple operation after Daniel was injured. When consideration is given to the testimony as to appellant’s purpose in leaving the line charged, it seems that if the jury should find the requisite foreseeability on which to base a finding of negligence, that this negligence was a proximate cause of his injury and that Daniel did not voluntarily assume the risk, then the test for evidence to support an award of punitive damages has been met. If appellant should have known that its conduct would probably result in injury and continued that conduct in a conscious indifference to consequences from which malice may be inferred, then the jury might properly award .punitive damages. McGlone v. Stokes, 193 Ark. 1008, 104 S. W. 2d 191. In Texarkana Gas & Electric Co. v. Orr, 59 Ark. 215, 27 S. W. 66, it was held that there was substantial evidence to support an award of punitive damages. The evidence showed these facts: During the night there was a severe electrical storm causing some of the electric company’s wires to break at about 2:00 a.m. It was discovered at the power house that there was a “ground” or connec* tion between the power line and the earth, either by direct contact of a broken line, or by the line or broken ends of it coming in contact with a tree, with the pole or roof of a house, or a string, wire or rope resting on the earth thrown over the line. It was scarcely possible to locate the “ground” by tests, and the weather was such that it may not have been reasonable to expect the company employees to search for the broken wires until daylight. As soon as the “ground” was disclosed at the power house, an employee of the company awakened and advised the superintendent, who sent word to the engineer in charge of the plant to “go ahead.” The deceased for whose estate the suit was brought took hold of a wire that ran to a saloon and was warned to be careful. The wire turned out to be dead. This was after daylight and after people had begun to appear on the city streets. The deceased was in position to have seen a hog receive a shock from live wires on the other side of the street. While crossing the street, he picked up a broken wire that ran into the saloon and dragged it toward a drug store across the street. In obedience to an order by a policeman to put down the wire, the deceased threw it. He received a fatal shock as he did so, apparently as a result of this dead wire coming into contact with a live one. If there was sufficient evidence to support an award of punitive damages in that case, then the jury should have had the discretion to award them here. I am also of the opinion that there was error in the denial of appellant’s requested instruction no. 17, AMI 503, telling the jury that if any event occurred following an act or omission on the part of a party completely independent of that party’s conduct, the original act or omission is not a proximate cause. The circuit judge denied this instruction, stating that appellee alleged that there was negligence on the part of appellant and appellant alleged negligence on the part of appellee, and if there was negligence on the part of appellant, there could be no independent intervening cause. I submit that this ruling was erroneous. Apparently, the trial judge felt that if appellant were guilty of negligence, the acts of appellee could constitute contributory negligence, but not an inervening cause. Our cases hold to the contrary. Arkansas Valley Trust Co. v. McIlroy, 97 Ark. 160, 133 S. W. 816, 31 L. R. A. (n. s.) 1020; Hayes v. Missouri Pacific Ry. Co., 208 Ark. 370, 186 S. W. 2d 780. In the McIlroy case we held that the acts of a plaintiff who, in igniting a piece. of paper at a smoldering fire with which she attempted to start a new fire, set fire to her own clothes constituted an efficient intervening cause of her injury which prevented recovery from the defendant, even if it was negligent in starting the original fire, or in leaving it unguarded. The acts of the plaintiff were said to make the setting of the fire too remote to be the cause. We said that the jury should have been instructed tha,t such conduct on the part of the plaintiff would bar her recovery. • , In Hayes, we held that the chain of causation between negligence and injury is broken when an independent act of a plaintiff, not within reasonable. contemplation of defendant, intervenes to bring-, about injury. Our-holdings are based upon the principle that the consequence of the original negligent act must be within the range of probability as viewed by the ordinary man, so that consequences which are merely possible cannot be regarded as either probable or natural and cannot be a proximate cause. In Hayes,- a railroad track laborer attempted, without being instructed to do so, to extinguish a fire on the railroad right-of-way while his clothing was saturated with creosote from his finishing rails and angle bars, A directed verdict was sustained, not because the laborer was held to be . guilty of negligence, as a matter of law, but because his injury was not one which , was the natural and. probable. consequence of the fire being set or foreseeable by the. railroad, in the light, of the existing circumstances. In another case involving the setting of a fire by a .locomotive, we held that one who sustained personal injuries in fighting the fire in a burning pasture was not entitled to recover for them. Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. v. Benham, 192 Ark. 35, 89 S. W. 2d 928. There we said: Plaintiff suggested and adopted, his. own method of fighting the- fire, and proceeded with its execution according to his own judgment, without dictation or interference by any of defendant’s employees. Defendant made no contention that the fire was not occasioned by sparks from its passing locomotive, and there was no proof made as to the fire escaping from the locomotive because of any negligence on the part of defendant, as it was liable for any damage by fire caused by the locomotive because of section 8569, Crawford & Moses’ Dig., whether the fire was occasioned with or without negligence. If, however, it may be assumed that some negligent act or omission on the part of defendant resulted in setting out the fire, nevertheless there is no liability for the physical injuries plaintiff has suffered. It is well settled that, before liability can attach to anyone for a negligent act, it must be the proximate cause of the resulting injury and one which, in the light of attendant circumstances, a person of ordinary foresight and prudence could have anticipated. St. Louis, I. M. & So. Ry. Co. v. Bragg, 69 Ark. 402, 64 S. W. 226, 86 Am. St. Rep. 206; Arkansas Valley Trust Co. v. McIlroy, 97 Ark. 160, 133 S. W. 816, 31 L. R. A., N. S., 1020. It was the duty of plaintiff to use reasonable efforts to himself extinguish the fire and thus minimize his damage; if, in doing so, he was intemperate and injury to himself occurred, it was his own fault and a consequence which could not have been reasonably foreseen from the negligent act, if any, of the defendant in allowing fire to escape from its locomotive. In other words, it was his own act which was the active intervening cause directly producing the injury and not the original alleged negligent act of defendant. Even if it could be said that appellant was guilty of negligence as a matter of law, this does not mean that its negligence was the proximate cause of appellee’s injury. It may well be that a jury would find that appellee’s action in cutting the wires was an intervening act not the natural and probable consequence of any act or omission on appellant’s part. If so, appellee’s acts constituted an independent efficient intervening cause, even though appellant may have been guilty of negligence. The evidence in this case would constitute very substantial evidence in support of such a finding. W- H. Gerrard testified that on the morning of the occurrence he told Daniel to leave the lines alone, and to go down beside the wires rather than under them. He said that he told Daniel and all his other employees not to bother the lines. Dan Johnson, Daniel’s immediate boss and field foreman for Gerrard, was present at all times when Daniel was operating the tractor on the day of his injury. Johnson testified that the tractor drivers had been told on the , day of Daniel’s injury to tufn when they came to the line. He., said that the tractor equipped with the tanks would not pass under the line, which he said was 12 ór 13 feet above the ground. Johnson stated that he had warned Daniel about the line on the day before, that he had told Daniel and all other tractor drivers to stay away from the line on the morning before the incident, that he warned Daniel at the time he cut the first line and told him not to cut the second line. Johnson said that he had told the drivers to work up to the line and turn around. He also testified that all the drivers had done this prior to Daniel’s injury. Johnson testified that he knew what Daniel was going to do when he got the pliers out of his tool box, so he told him not to cut the line. After appellee cut the lower line and moved the tractor into position under the higher one, Johnson said that he hollered to Daniel, “You want me. to. call Lacey Funeral Home?” and that another tractor driver hollered to Daniel, “What do you want me to tell Chi?”3 This driver and Bill Gerrard, son of Daniel’s employer, corroborated Johnson’s testimony about this remark. Bill Gerrard also, heard Johnson call out when Daniel was about to cut the first wire, “Don’t cut it, it’s hot.” This witness heard Johnson warn Daniél twice. . I do not see how it could be seriously urged that appellant was not entitled to this instruction. In all other respects I agree with the majority opinion.  There was also testimony that this wire may have been three feet higher than the other, and testimony that it was more than 13 feet above the ground.   The injury occurred June 4, 1968.   Chi was appellee’s wife.