Power Line Hazards: Is The Utility Company Liable If They Didn’t Have Notice Of Them?

Many people ask our attorneys if a utility company can still be held responsible if it wasn’t aware of power line hazards that lead to someone being electrocuted.

The short answer is yes.

Power companies can be charged with breaching their duty to protect the public even if they do not have actual notice of power line hazards, defects or dangerous conditions. An experienced electrocution lawyer can prove the following: If the defect or danger could have been discovered by the use of ordinary care, such as making a reasonable inspection, knowledge of the defect can be inferred, according to the case law set in Schleif v. Grigsby.

For example, in Coen v. Cent Telephone Company, the Court recognized that the defendant company “was bound to know that the wires were likely to get out of position and become dangerous by reason of sagging” when the posts holding in the wires were only a few inches thick. The posts were in place for over eight years and the defendant should have done a better job at inspecting the wires, according to the Court.

However, it should be noted that with some limited power line hazards, a utility company does not have a duty to inspect wires in the absence of its knowledge that circumstances called for an inspection to determine if precautions were needed.

According to another case, Siegel v. Portland General Electric Company, a wrongful death action was brought against a telephone company for a power line hazard in which the deceased electrocution victim, who was driving a motorcycle, drove into an unshielded guy wire. The plaintiff argued that the utility company had a duty to inspect the wires and failed to do so when it left the guy wire unshielded. The Court found that nothing changed as to require the defendant to inspect the wire, seeming to focus on the rural location and the lack of a danger due to the small population. There’s some limited support for this holding, but only for the specific facts of running into a guy wire, in which the courts emphasize the injuries were the result of crashing into guy wire, or where the utility pole was not owned by the utility company.

Get help from an experienced electrocution accident lawyer

If you or someone you love suffered an injury or lost their life in an electrocution accident due to a power line hazard, call now (947) 282-4269 and speak with Jeff Feldman, arguably the nation’s most experienced electrocution accident attorney. Jeff has litigated electrocution cases and electric shock injury cases in multiple states for families whose loved ones were injured or killed by electric shock, such as faulty consumer products, negligence in the building and construction industry, downed or low-hanging overhead power cables, and defective or poorly maintained pool equipment. Jeff also consults with injury lawyers throughout the country on electric shock injury and wrongful death cases involving electricity. You can call Jeff toll free at (947) 282-4269 for a free consultation.