Combs v. Delaware & Atlantic Telegraph & Telephone Co.

Citations

• 218 Pa. 440
• 67 A. 751
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 544

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Telephone company — Live wire.</p> <p>It is the duty of a telephone company to inspect its poles and lines, to maintain them in a safe condition as to the public and its employees and to keep them free from contact with dangerous and deadly currents of electricity not properly protected whether produced by it or by some other company.</p> <p>In an action against a telephone company to recover' damages for the death of plaintiff’s husband, it appeared that the decedent was killed while descending a telephone pole while in the employ of the defendant. The testimony showed that the pole in question was charred at a point where an electric light wire either did, or could have come in contact with it. The pole leaned towards the electric wire and away from its proper position, and the wire sagged in the direction of the pole. At some time, at least six weeks before the accident, a person not disclosed by the testimony nailed a piece of board over the charred place on the pole, and attached thereto a bracket a few inches wide on the end of which was a glass insulator, to which was fastened the electric wire. The decedent was not familiar with the lines in the vicinity of the place of the accident. In an emergency caused by a storm, he was sent out to aid other employees to locate the trouble, and make repairs to the lines. While descending the pole in question, his body suddenly fell to the ground, his face was black, and his shoe burst open. He did not live long enough to tell the story. Immediately after the accident it was noticed that the electric wire for a few inches on either side of the glass insulator was uninsulated. Held, that the case was for the jury, and that a verdict and judgment for plaintiff should be sustained.</p>