Morgan v. Westmoreland Electric Co.

Citations

• 213 Pa. 151
• 62 A. 638
• 1906 Pa. LEXIS 438

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Electric light company — Exposed wire — Pleadings—Construe-live notice.</p> <p>In an action against an electric light company to recover damages for death of plaintiff’s son, the statement charged that defendant maintained and operated two lines of wires extending from its main line to the cross arms of a pole which sustained a number of telephone wires; and that it “negligently and carelessly allowed and permitted said two wires without proper insulation to be placed on a cross arm of said pole thereby charging said arm and braces attached with a powerful current of electricity.” The case was tried upon the theory that the placing of the wire on the cross arm was a part of the construction. Held, (1) that the averment gave notice to the defendant that the plan of construction was brought into question; (2) that if there was doubt as to the sufficiency of the averment, it was too late to raise it after a trial on the merits.</p> <p>In an action against an electric light company to recover damages for death caused by an exposed wire, there was evidence tending to show that the manner in which the electric wires were carried through a network of telephone wires was faulty, and that the wire alleged to have caused the injury had been in use a number of years, and had sagged, and that its insulation had worn off. The court charged that with respect to faulty construction, notice was unnecessary since the defendant must be held to have notice of what it had designedly done; and with respect to a defective state of repair, it must be held to know that which supervision reasonably exercised would have disclosed. Held, that the instruction was correct.</p> <p>In an action against an electric light company to recover damages for the death of plaintiff’s son, an employee of a telephone company, it appeared that the defendant for a consideration permitted the telephone company to string a large number of telephone wires on one of its poles. The telephone wires