Court Opinion

ID: 9779004
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:32:03.575082+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:19.218749
License: Public Domain

CONKLING, Judge
(dissenting).
Believing that under the, facts of record in this case, as such facts appear in the transcript and are reflected in the principal opinion prepared by Commissioner Coil, that plaintiff’s decedent was contributorily negligent as a matter of law, I respectfully dissent from the ruling that plaintiff was not guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law.
I believe that knowing what deceased knew of his proximity to the wires carrying a deadly current, that it was not the exercise of due care on the part of deceased to have pulled or jerked the ladder in such manner and with such force that it would “go backward over his head” for the short distance which was required to bring it in contact with the power line.
The principal opinion holds that “ * * * we may not say as a matter of law that deceased knew or should have known that the ladder was entangled in the branches to 'such an extent that pulling with sufficient force to disentangle it would be likely to cause the light aluminum ladder to go back over his head and into the wires.”. The principal opinion further holds that “* * we may not say as a matter of law that Gerald must have known that a particular pull on an aluminum ladder, placed as his ladder was, would cause its base to leave the ground and cause the ladder to suddenly go backward over his head.” I cannot agree with either of those above quoted statements. Deceased knew that the ladder was rather securely “entangled in the branches” for it was only on the third or fourth pull or yank on the ladder that the ladder came free. And under all these-instant circumstances, I think Gerald must, be held in law to have known that to pull or yank the ladder three or four times in-the manner and with the force he was required to use to free it, would likely cause it to move into the nearby electric wires which he knew carried a lethal current of electricity.