Court Opinion

ID: 9629551
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:44:43.638554+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:20.844229
License: Public Domain

*572EDMONDS, J., Dissenting.
A power company which transmits electric energy over wires or appliances which it does not control is under no obligation to inspect them and is not liable for injuries sustained by reason of their defective condition. (Roberts v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., 102 Cal. App. 422 [283 Pac. 353].) It is conceded that the appellant Pacific Gas & Electric Company did not own the line upon which the short circuit occurred; therefore the question of controlling importance is whether the utility had such control of this line as to make it liable for the damages caused by the fire.
Under the contract of the power company with the consumer and the testimony concerning the facilities employed in delivering the electrical energy, this question was one of fact for the jury. However, the evidence, as I read it, would support a verdict either for or against the power company, and under such circumstances, the failure to give the jury an instruction clearly stating that the power company is not liable for the damage occasioned by the fire if it did not have some control of the line to the mine constitutes reversible error. (Scarborough v. Urgo, 191 Cal. 341 [216 Pac. 584]; Berkovitz v. American River Gravel Co., 191 Cal. 195 [215 Pac. 675].) Certainly the instruction quoted in the opinion of my associates as justifying the refusal to give the instruction concerning control does not clearly state the rule of law upon which the power company relies. The fact that the appellant utility was transmitting electrical current over the Plumbago Mine Line does not compel the conclusion that it had any control of the line; the rule stated in the refused instruction applies to those situations in which a power company is transmitting electrical energy over a line which it does not control.
For these reasons, in my opinion, the judgment should be reversed.
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied September 25, 1941. Edmonds, J., voted for a rehearing.