Dannenhower v. Western Union Telegraph Co.

Citations

• 218 Pa. 216
• 67 A. 207
• 1907 Pa. LEXIS 487

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Telegraph company — Live wire — Death.</p> <p>In an action against a telegraph company to recover damages for death, it appeared that an unused telegraph wire which belonged to the defendant, or was under its control, fell across an electric light feed wire of an electric light company. The telegraph wire had been connected with a call box which had been removed some months before the accident. The wire had fallen three or four weeks before. One end of it extended down so near the pavement that children reached and played with it; the other end was wrapped around an iron pole. The deceased was a trimmer in the employ of the electric light company, and was killed by an electric shock while engaged in placing carbons in a lamp attached to the pole. There was no evidence to show that the deceased had not taken due care. Held, that the case was for the jury, and that a verdict and judgment for plaintiff should be sustained.</p> <p>Negligence — Proximate and remote cause — Intervening act.</p> <p>A negligent act may be the proximate cause of an injury, although not the sole nor immediate cause, where the intervening act is set in motion or induced by the negligent act and the consequence is one that should have been foreseen.</p>