Leslie v. City of Monterey

JOHNSTON, J., pro tem. This action was brought by Lawrence J. Leslie against the City of Monterey and certain of its officers, Coast Valleys Gas and Electric Company, a corporation, and Pacific Gas and Electric Com[717]pany, a corporation, for damages which he received for personal injuries on February 12, 1928, at the baseball park in the City of Monterey, California. Judgment of nonsuit was granted in favor of the City of Monterey and its officers. Appellants herein also made a motion for nonsuit but the same was denied by the trial court. The interest of the appellants being identical, the jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and against the appellants in the sum of $75,000, which, upon motion for a new trial, was reduced by the court to the sum of $50,000.

At the time of the accident, the City of Monterey owned and operated a baseball park bounded on the east by Figueroa Street, on the west by Adams Street, on the north by Franklin Street and on the south by Pearl Street. As a certain coast league baseball team was coming to Monterey to start its practice season, the City of Monterey adopted plans and awarded a contract for the erection of a fence and a backstop surrounding the said baseball park. The contract to erect the fence and the backstop was awarded to Fred McCrary, a contractor, in whose employ the plaintiff was when the accident occurred. The fence on the east side of the ball park had been moved five feet onto Figueroa Street from the property line, and directly under certain power transmission wires of defendants carrying 22,000 voltage. After the fence had been completed, a backstop was erected along it consisting of wire netting and steel pipes forty-sis feet long and four inches wide. Holes six feet deep had been dug, in which the pipes were to be inserted. At the time of the accident, the first of the steel pipes was being erected on Figueroa Street on the southwest corner of the ball park. Steel pipes had been erected previously on the same day on Adams Street, or the west side, where there were no wires. At the time of the accident, the workmen were pulling up the first pole by means of rope running through a block and tackle attached to the pole and attached at the other end to a truck, the hole for the same having been already dug. The ground was moist and a pile of dirt was located near the hole from which it had been removed. As the steel pole was being raised, Manuel Rogers, another man employed in the construction of the fence and backstop, was at the top of the scaffolding for the intended purpose of guiding the pipe at the top, [718]