Shindler v. Sullivan County Light & Power Corp.

Headnote

Negligence — electricity — death from contact with wire heavily charged with electricity ■—• contributory negligence.

Shindler v. Sullivan Co. L. & P. Corp., 213 App. Div. 71 , affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment, entered May 21, 1925, upon an order of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the third judicial department, which reversed an order of the court at a Trial Term setting aside a verdict in favor of plaintiff and directing a dismissal of the complaint and reinstated said verdict in an action to recover for the death of plaintiff’s intestate alleged to have been occasioned through the negligence of defendant. A bell wire ran between two houses, being suspended by a crotch in the branch of a tree midway between them; defendant’s primary wire carrying 2,200 volts passed nearly at right angles to this wire. During a storm the wires came in contact, causing the bell wire to become heavily charged and to spark and flame and set fire to the tree where' it was suspended. Plaintiff’s intestate

threw an axe against the bell wire. It broke and the free end struck and electrocuted him. The defense was contributory negligence.