Court Opinion

ID: 9552972
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:19:45.173336+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:29:27.629974
License: Public Domain

Rosellini, J.
(dissenting) — The negligence of the independent contractor borders on gross negligence. "An uninsulated high voltage power line carrying a deadly current must be considered one of the most dangerous contrivances known to man." Black v. Public Serv. Elec. & Gas Co., 56 N.J. 63, 72, 265 A.2d 129, 133 (1970).
An energized high voltage line, under proper atmospheric pressure, will arc anywhere from 10 to 12 feet and strike any metal object within the arc.
Steve Shaw, on September 1, 1978, was an apprentice with the independent contractor. He was permitted to climb a power pole on which there were high voltage energized lines. Shaw was working within 2 feet of the high voltage lines without any protective barrier being used or covering to insulate the lines, and was involved in attaching a copper wire to the energized high voltage lines above him. He was doing journeyman labor without adequate or proper supervision. While performing his work, Shaw came in contact with the high voltage line and was electrocuted. A journeyman worker on the pole next to Shaw was using an insulated bucket as a safety precaution. It was almost inevitable that Shaw, being permitted to work in violation of all statutory safety rules and common sense around energized high voltage lines, would be injured or electrocuted.
Public service utilities enjoy a unique and privileged status not enjoyed by any other business. They are companies which generate and distribute electricity for profit. They are given an exclusive franchise for an exclusive territory. They are guaranteed a profit; the rates are fixed at amounts which are just, fair, reasonable and sufficient. RCW 80.28.010. They are given state governmental power for the exercise of eminent domain. RCW 80.32.060. They are given the right to enter upon any land for the purpose *289of locating and servicing such lines. RCW 80.32.070.
RCW 80.04.460 requires that a private service company shall give immediate notice to the commission of every accident resulting in death or injury occurring in the plant or system. RCW 80.28.130 provides that the commission may order repairs in order to promote the security or convenience of the public or employees.
RCW 80.04.440 provides:
In case any public service company shall do, cause to be done or permit to be done any act, matter or thing prohibited, forbidden or declared to be unlawful, or shall omit to do any act, matter or thing required to be done ... by any law of this state, . . . such public service company shall be liable to the persons . . . affected thereby for all loss, damage or injury caused thereby or resulting therefrom, . . .
RCW 80.04.300-.320 provide that a budget showing an amount of money which will be needed during the ensuing year for maintenance, operation and construction must be forwarded to the Utilities and Transportation Commission for its approval.
The whole scheme of regulating and controlling private utilities supports the conclusion that the utility has a nondelegable duty to see to the safety of persons employed on its premises, and that it cannot insulate itself from the negligence of an independent contractor.
The employer should be liable for the negligence of the independent contractor if, in the course of work, gravely injurious consequences might be expected to result from such negligence. There are inherently dangerous activities which require a whole set of precautions against the large number of hazards recognizable in advance as likely to occur. This nondelegable duty is dictated by a public policy designed to insure that the greatest precautions will be taken to avoid injury to an employee or other persons.
In order to safeguard against accidents, an owner who engages in such activities should have the duty to double-check safety requirements, whether upon the theory that *290the statutes which control public service corporations imply that duty, or upon the theory of nondelegable duty as expressed in Person v. Cauldwell-Wingate Co., 176 F.2d 237 (2d Cir. 1949), and in Snyder v. Southern Cal. Edison Co., 44 Cal. 2d 793, 799-800, 285 P.2d 912 (1955), quoting from F. Harper, Torts § 292 (1933):
[O]ne who employs an independent contractor is, as a general rule, not liable for the misconduct of the latter or of his servants while acting within the scope of the contract. . . .
"[There are] certain exceptions and apparent exceptions which, with increasing tendency, seem likely to overshadow in importance and scope the rule itself. . . . A number of situations exist, however, which are actual cases of vicarious liability, that is, liability for the misconduct of the independent contractor and his servants although the contractee has himself been free from personal fault. A number of factors concur to constitute the grounds of policy for such allocation of risk from the immediate to the general entrepreneur. These considerations, in fact, constitute such a powerful argument for the liability of the employer of an independent contractor that it would seem highly desirable for the courts to adopt the rule of liability and confine nonliability to a few exceptional cases. This, the American courts, at least, have not yet done, but there is every reason to believe that sound social policy will induce the courts to make further inroads upon the rule of nonliability in this class of cases.
Addressing the concept of particularly dangerous or inherently dangerous nondelegable duty, W. Prosser, Torts § 70 (3d ed. 1964), at page 485 states:
Obviously included within either concept are activities, such as the construction of reservoirs, . . . high tension electric wires, . . . which will be dangerous in spite of all reasonable care, . . .
(Italics mine. Footnotes omitted.)
I would hold that work on energized high tension voltage lines is so inherently dangerous that the owner has a nondelegable duty to assure the safety of employees, which renders him liable for the independent contractor's negligence.
*291I would reverse and remand for trial.
Dolliver, Williams, and Dore, JJ., concur with Rosel-LINI, J.
Reconsideration denied December 7, 1981.