Zurich Insurance v. Coachella Valley Home Telephone & Telegraph Co.

Plaintiffs appeal from an order granting defendant’s motion for a new trial.

The action was instituted to recover damages for dhe wrongful death of Frank Darcy alleged to have been caused through the negligent maintenance by defendant of certain telephone wires. Defendant’s answer denied any negligence on its part in the maintenance of the telephone wires and in addition alleged that the proximate cause of the injuries which resulted in the death of Frank Darcy was the negligence of the deceased.

The evidence produced during the trial showed that on July 13, 1928, Frank Darcy was riding upon a load of hay which was being conveyed on a truck along a certain public highway in Riverside County. The load of hay was eight bales in height and deceased sat on one of the topmost bales at the rear end of the truck facing in the direction opposite to that in which the truck was proceeding. The bale of hay on which Darcy sat was sixteen feet two inches from the surface of the highway. As the truck approached an intersection of the highway with another road certain telephone wires extended diagonally across the highway. These wires were the property of defendant and comprised part of its…