The Lineman and the Trolley Line
A worker's damage suit against a telephone company is thrown out after the court decides infrastructure shouldn't have to withstand streetcar accidents.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A $50,000 damage suit, brought by Martin Brennan against the Sunset Telephone and Telegraph Company, was on trial before Judge Humes yesterday. Brennan alleged that he had been injured while in the employ of the defendant. His complaint set out that on July 2, he was ordered to ascend a derrick mast used by the defendant to raise telegraph poles, and that while he was at the top of the mast, a defective guy rope allowed it to fall, severely injuring him. It was brought out in the evidence yesterday that the true cause of Brennan's fall was the breaking of the guy by a passing street car. The complaint merely alleged that the rope was defective, and not that the corporation's servants were negligent. In view of this fact, Judge Humes granted the defendant's motion for non-suit, saying that there was no law compelling the corporation to use guy ropes strong enough to hold a street car, although the evidence showed negligence in allowing the guy ropes to cross a car track.
“There was no law compelling the corporation to use guy ropes strong enough to hold a street car.”
This case illustrates the legal hurdles laborers faced in the industrial boom, where corporate interests were often shielded by narrow interpretations of liability, a dynamic still visible in debates over worker safety and corporate accountability.
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