Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. v. Archdeacon

Citations

• 80 Ohio St. (N.S.) 27

Syllabus

<p>Joint use of pole — By telephone and electric light companies — Each company liable to employe of oilier company when — Question of negligence of employe — In case triable to jury — Application of law to fact — Function of court.</p> <p>1. When two companies engaged in enterprises calling for the use of wires to carry electricity arrange for the joint use of a pole to sustain them, each company is, with respect to such use, charged with the same duty toward employes of the other as to its own; and the correlative duty of the employes to exercise due care for their own safety is the same as to both companies.</p> <p>2. There can be no recovery against an employer for an injury to an' employe which he would not have sustained if he had not voluntarily and unnecessarily used an appliance for a purpose other than that for which he knew it to be intended.</p> <p>3. Though issues joined in a case are triable to a jury, when the facts are conclusively determined in a manner not affected by material error the application of the law to such facts is a function of the court, and its exercise, when properly invoked, becomes a duty.</p>