Kempf v. Spokane & Inland Empire Railroad

Citations

• 82 Wash. 263
• 144 P. 77
• 1914 Wash. LEXIS 1519

Syllabus

<p>Electricity — Injuries—Degree of Care — Liability—Negligence —Evidence—Sufficiency. Altbougb a trolley wire, carrying 6,600 volts, is an instrument of great danger, requiring the highest degree of care, in order to charge the company, the injury must be one that a person of ordinary prudence would reasonably and naturally have anticipated; hence the company is not liable, where a boy received a shock, when a wire, held in his hand while playing “telephone” across a deep cut 35 feet deep and 45 feet wide, fell across the trolley line below, in an attempt to throw the other end of the wire across the cut; especially where there was no evidence that boys had been accustomed to play such games involving communications across the cut.</p>