Richard L. Shafer and Joan H. Shafer, Husband and Wife v. The Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Company, a Corporation

Plaintiffs (appellants here) brought this diversity action for damages impersonal injuries sustained by the plaintiff Joan Shafer on February 9, 1962, when she tripped over a telephone cord installed by the defendant in the medical records library of Maryvale Community Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, alleging that the accident and resulting injuries were proximately caused by defendant’s negligence. At the close of plaintiffs’ evidence, an order was entered directing a verdict for the defendant, and final judgment was entered thereon, from which this appeal was taken.

Joan Shafer was employed as medical records librarian at Maryvale Community Hospital in August of 1961, shortly before the hospital opened in September, and was assigned a room for the medical records library. The defendant installed telephone equipment in this room, including a telephone with an ordinary cord approximately six feet long. There is no contention that this installation was improper or that any liability arises therefrom.

Around October 1, 1961, Mrs. Shafer’s desk was moved nearer the center of the room to facilitate contact with the doctors in the hospital. The ordinary cord would not reach her desk.…