Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Granite Construction Co.

SCHOTTKY, J.

Plaintiff sued defendants for damages to its cable allegedly caused by negligence and trespass and for costs incurred in relocating the cable. Judgment was for plaintiff and defendants have appealed from said judgment.

Appellants contend that the evidence is insufficient to support the judgment. Where the attack on appeal is the sufficiency of the evidence, “the appellate court must consider the evidence in the light

most favorable to the prevailing party,

giving him the benefit of

every reasonable inference,

and

resolving conflicts

in support of the judgment.” (3 Witkin, Cal. Procedure, § 84, p. 2245.)

The learned trial judge filed a memorandum of decision which ably and correctly states the applicable law, and because such opinions are always helpful to an appellate court we adopt said opinion as part of the opinion of this court. It is as follows:

“In the summer of 1958 plaintiff, Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, hereafter known as Pacific, had installed an underground communications cable to Squaw Valley, California, preparatory for the Winter Olympic Games. Pursuant to franchise rights given by law (Pub. Util. Code, § 7901), the installation was on the north side of an existing public road leading from Highway 89 to the site of the Games. The evidence showed that prior to the installation, Pacific had contacted the Olympics Commission, and from the engineer in charge had obtained approval of the location of the cable both as to position and depth. This approval was obtained in anticipation that the said access road would be improved. Pacific then went ahead with its installation and laid the cable at a minimum depth of 3 feet.

[768]

“Subsequently, defendant Granite Construction Company, hereafter known as Granite, undertook to improve and rebuild the said access road from Highway 89 to Squaw Valley. This was done pursuant to contract and specifications from the Organizing Committee for said Olympics Commission. The evidence showed that in its road construction activity Granite, on three different occasions, damaged plaintiff’s cable, making repairs necessary. The cable contained within it 910 separately wrapped wires, and when severed or damaged the splicing of the individual wires became an intricate and time-consuming job, there being 1,820 wires to handle.