Carpenter v. Los Angeles Gas & Electric Corp.

THE COURT. This is an appeal from a judgment for defendant upon a verdict of the jury directed by the court, [371]and an attempted appeal from an order denying a motion for a new trial.

The action is one in which plaintiffs seek damages, both general and punitive, for the alleged wrongful, unlawful and malicious discontinuance of electrical service at plaintiffs’ home, which theretofore had been supplied by defendant.

From the evidence adduced at the trial, which consumed four days, it appears that early in 1934 plaintiffs questioned the truth of defendant’s monthly statement on account of electricity shown by the meter to have been used. A letter from plaintiffs to defendant in that regard, under date of February 5, 1934, is as follows: “Dear Sirs: Received your sheet showing the electric readings requested. Now, please advise how you obtained these. There is no way to secure them except by admittance to the house, and no one has asked to be allowed to enter for that purpose. During six weeks of the time shown, the house was unoccupied, and we were out of the city. Yours very truly, L. E. Carpenter.” A second letter under date of February 19, 1934, is as follows: “Dear Sirs: Enclosed is check for gas as per your bills of Jan. 6.89— Feb. 6.13, 1302. Under date of Feb. 5, I wrote you concerning the electricity, asking an explanation—You have not answered that letter. I am withholding payment until you straighten this matter out as it should be. Yours truly, L. E. Carpenter.”

In reply to the above letters defendant informed plaintiff in a letter dated March 6, 1934, that its assistant chief meter reader reported that the meter could be read through the window. Thereafter it appears that other meter readers reported to the contrary. In any event, the dispute over the meter readings continued for over a year.

Briefly, the record reveals evidence of the following pertinent facts: That the meter was located on the screen porch; that the screen door was covered with a canvas on the inside; that the door was always locked; that time and again the defendant’s meter readers were required to return by special appointment or otherwise to gain access to the meter; that the board of public utilities and transportation investigated the matter at the request of defendant; that plaintiff protested the investigation and questioned the board’s authority; that considerable correspondence regarding the accounts and the payment thereof and to the controversy generally went on