[DOWNLOAD] "Williams v. Mitchell County Electric Membership Corp." by Georgia Court of Appeals * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Williams v. Mitchell County Electric Membership Corp.
- Author : Georgia Court of Appeals
- Release Date : January 24, 2002
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 72 KB
Description
These are appeals from the grant of a judgment notwithstanding the verdict for the estate and in a wrongful death actions for electrocution of a farm worker who tried to disengage a neutral wire from a cotton picker and came within ten feet of a high voltage line. The trial court granted the motion, because the court contended that the ""High-voltage Safety Act"" was violated and that the deceased assumed the risk of injury. The jury rejected the affirmative defense of assumption of risk, and there was no evidence to show that the deceased had both objective and subjective appreciation of the danger; therefore, the trial court erred. However, the 1992 ""High-voltage Safety Act"" immunizes the power company's negligence of omission and commission in placement and maintenance of such lines when there had been no notice given. Thus, the Act applied barring liability, because there had been no notice. In 1949, the Mitchell County Electric Membership Corporation erected a high-voltage power line above ground along Strawberry Road. The power line consisted of two copper wires, strung one above the other; the lower was neutral and the higher was the phase wire. Each wire was a single strand of number six gauge cooper wire, which was the smallest used by Mitchell EMC; however, beginning over 70 years ago, Mitchell EMC had gone to the general use of a thicker, braided aluminum wire to avoid stretching. Over time, a single strand of copper wire will stretch, causing greater sagging of the power lines. The poles were placed over 495 feet apart, causing a sag so that the top line was 19' 2"" instead of at least 22' above the ground, and the neutral was at 12' 6"" instead of 18' as required by the National Electric Safety Code. Mitchell EMC followed the NESC standards as testified to by Donnie Stanfill, engineering technician and Alex Rex Hutto, operations superintendent, for Mitchell EMC. To avoid sagging, NESC required shorter spans, resulting in higher wires; the pole placement had been violated here. Thus, this site failed to meet the minimum NESC requirements at the time of death for pole placement, power line height, and maintenance.