60 Ga. App. 38 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1939
Virgil A. Tidwell brought suit against the Georgia Power Company, alleging in substance that the company was indebted to the plaintiff for injuries caused by the negligent acts of the company; that on the date of the injury the defendant was engaged in the business of producing and transmitting electricity oyer its lines in Coweta County; that an electric current of 38,000 volts was being transmitted over the line in question on the day of the injury; that the current was carried by means of metal wires attached to insulators on cross-beams of wood fixed near the tops of poles about twenty feet in height; that these wires, as they carried the high voltage of current, were extremely dangerous in that any person who might come in contact with them would be instantly killed or severely injured, and this fact was well known to the defendant, and the wires were elevated about twenty feet from the ground to avoid such contact; that at the place of injury the wires were strung along the side of the highway, and had.been placed there without objection on the part of the highway authorities, but the defendant did not own any easement, title, or right of way in the lands occupied and used by the poles and wires; that the poles were within four or five feet of the roadway, and so located that the breaking of any pole or wires would cause the wires to come into and on the roadway; that plans were made by the proper authorities to widen and relocate the highway, and the defendant was notified by the clerk of the county commissioners to remove its poles and wires from the right of way, and was further notified of the proposed widening and grading of the right of way; that the defendant was notified of the manner of the work to be done, including the clearing of the right of way, in ample time for it to have removed its wires and poles; that the defendant, though warned and notified to move its wires and poles, and though fully aware of conditions, failed to remove, safeguard, or take any step to avoid injury by the high-voltage line, but, with knowledge that the work on the highway was being done, continued to transmit the power over its line, knowing full well that the injuries complained of would probably, if not certainly, result; that the work being done on the right of way was the cutting of trees along the highway in order to widen it; that the defendant knew when, how, and
The defendant filed a general demurrer to the petition. Exception is taken to the order sustaining the demurrer and dismissing the action. Under the ruling in Postal Telegraph-Cable Co. v. Kelly, 134 Ga. 218 (67 S. E. 803), it was not error to sustain the demurrer. See Georgia Power Co. v. Wood, 43 Ga. App. 542 (159 S. E. 729); Higginbotham v. Rome Railway & Light Co., 23 Ga. App. 753 (99 S. E. 638); Perry v. Central Railroad, 66 Ga. 746; Beckham v. Seaboard Air-Line Railway Co., 127 Ga. 550 (56 S. E. 638, 12 L. R. A. (N. S.) 476).
Judgment affirmed.