Satterberg v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co.

BARNARD, P. J. This is an action for damages. The plaintiff was injured when his plow came into contact with certain electric equipment maintained by the defendant. A power pole stood in the public highway in front of the plaintiff’s vineyard, being some seven feet from the property line. An iron pipe had- been driven into the ground a few inches from this pole, the top of the pipe being three or four inches below the surface of the ground at the time in question. A ground wire covered by a wooden molding extended from a transformer near the top of the pole to a point some twelve or fourteen inches below the surface of the ground. From that point this ground wire, uninsulated and unprotected, was looped outward and upward to the top of the iron pipe where it was attached by a clamp. This equipment was installed in 1923.

In April, 1941, the plaintiff was plowing his vineyard with a one-horse plow. In accordance with the usual custom he was plowing a few feet beyond the property line and turning in the roadway. As he made such a turn and was plowing back toward the vineyard he drove the plow so that the guide bar thereon would touch the pole, leaving the plowshare close to the pole, in order to plow under weeds and grass which were near the pole. As he was doing this the point of his plowshare came into contact either with the iron pipe or with the uninsulated wire near the place where it joined the pipe. As a result of this contact the plaintiff received an electric shock causing serious injuries. In this action which followed a jury returned a verdict in his favor for $7,500 and the defendant has appealed from the judgment.

It is first contended that the complaint failed to state a cause of action and that the appellant’s demurrer thereto should have been sustained. It is argued that by failing to allege that he did not know of the presence of this iron pipe and this portion of the ground wire the respondent admitted that he did have such knowledge and that the allegations of the complaint are not sufficient to bring him within that class of persons who might be said to have innocently come into contact with this part of the equipment. The case of Hauser [299]v. Pacific Gas & Elec. Co., 133 Cal.App. 222 [23 P.2d 1068], is particularly relied upon. In that case it appeared that the injury resulted not from an accidental contact with the wire but from a deliberate act of the plaintiff taken with full knowledge of the circumstances. No such situation here appears. The complaint here described this particular installation below the surface of the ground, alleged negligence in failing to place, protect or insulate this ground wire and pipe so as to prevent the charging with or escape of electric current therefrom, and alleged that the appellant improperly placed and allowed the same to remain in an unprotected condition and in one dangerous to a person who might innocently come in contact therewith. While the complaint is not a model it is sufficient to apprise the appellant of the facts relied upon by the respondent, the case was tried upon that theory and no possible prejudice to the appellant appears, and the cases relied upon by the appellant are not controlling.