Turton v. Powelton Electric Co.

Citations

• 185 Pa. 406
• 39 A. 1053
• 1898 Pa. LEXIS 730

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Joint tort feasors — Practice—Trial.</p> <p>Inasmuch as joint tort feasors are jointly and severally liable for injuries caused by their torts, and. as between themselves, no contribution exists, one of them has no cause to complain because in an action against the two, the trial judge directed a verdict in favor of the other.</p> <p>Negligence — Electric light company.</p> <p>In an action against an electric light company to recover damages for personal injuries caused by an electric current, the case is for the jury where the evidence shows that plaintiff received an electric shock from a guy .wire running from a pole in a street across her yard; that numerous telegraph and other wires were strung upon the same pole, the voltage of which was not sufficient to cause the injury; that the insulation in close proximity to the guy wire was worn off by contact with it, and that flames and sparks had been seen at this point for months before the accident.</p> <p>It is not error for the trial court to charge in an action for damages for personal injuries against an electric light company, “ This wire is admittedly a dangerous wire. It is insulated for that, among other reasons, and the question is, whether you consider that putting a wire of that kind on a pole already covered with other wires and going through the city .... is not a very dangerous thing, of itself;” if the court had previously stated that plaintiff’s contention was that the accident was caused by defendant’s wire becoming worn and by the electricity running down a guy wire, and that that was a question for the jury to decide, and if they decided in favor of plaintiff’s contention, the second question would be, “Has this electric light company been guilty of negligence which caused the accident ? . . . . Every man understands that care which is sufficient /or a barrel of potatoes is negligence for a barrel of gunpowder;’’and immediately follows the part of the charge objected to, with this