Langley

Plaintiff Bert Langley brought this action against defendant Pacific Gas and Electric Company for breach of a contract wherein defendant allegedly agreed to furnish plaintiff with power necessary to operate plaintiff's fish hatchery, and in the event that delivery of power was suspended, to give reasonable notice of such suspension to plaintiff. The evidence at the trial established that a power failure occurred, that defendant did not give plaintiff notice of such failure, and that as a result 78,000 of plaintiff's trout died. Plaintiff recovered judgment for $12,480 pursuant to a jury verdict. Defendant appeals, contending that it did not breach any contractual duty to plaintiff and that the trial court erroneously instructed the jury.

Plaintiff built his hatchery in 1947. At the time of the accident he had about 80,000 trout, in seven concrete troughs, 16 feet long, 16 inches wide, and 8 inches deep. It was necessary to have a continuous flow of running water in the troughs to supply oxygen to the trout. If the flow of water were cut off, the trout would die in from 20 to 30 minutes. Plaintiff supplied water to the troughs by gravity flow from a reservoir that was…