Newlin v. New England Telephone Co.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts · Torts

TortsNegligencePleadingProximate Causenegligencedemurrerdeclarationpleading sufficiency

Facts

The plaintiff owned a mushroom plant on Washington Street in Groveland. The defendant maintained a pole on that street near the plant, and the declaration alleged that the pole was weak and defective, that the defendant knew or should have known of the defect, and that the pole fell because of the defendant's negligence. When it fell, it carried away a power line running to the plaintiff's plant, disabling electrical apparatus used to grow mushrooms, causing the temperature to rise and killing the crop. The plaintiff sought damages for the resulting property loss.

Issue

Did the plaintiff's declaration allege with sufficient certainty a common law negligence claim against the defendant for property damage caused when the defendant's negligently maintained pole fell and disrupted electrical service to the plaintiff's plant? More specifically, was it necessary for the plaintiff to plead the statutory basis of the defendant's duty or the precise authority or contractual relationship by which electricity was supplied to the plant?

Rule

At common law, a defendant who negligently fails to use reasonable care to keep its property in a strong and safe condition is liable for injury proximately resulting to the person or property of another. A declaration is sufficient if it concisely and with substantial certainty alleges the defendant's ownership or control, negligent breach of a duty of reasonable care owed to the plaintiff and the public generally, and the character of the injury proximately caused; the plaintiff need not expressly plead a statute, contractual relationship, or the precise mechanism by which the harm was communicated where no intervening cause is alleged.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

In Portland, Maine, Omar Vega operates a refrigerated seed vault. He alleges that Harbor Signal Networks maintained a roadside equipment mast near his building, that the mast had become rotten and unstable, that the company knew or should have known of that condition, and that the mast collapsed and tore down a cable supplying electricity to the vault, ruining stored seeds when the cooling system stopped.

Harbor Signal Networks demurs, arguing the complaint is too conclusory because it does not describe every structural defect in the mast. How should the court rule?

Explanation. A common law negligence pleading is sufficient if it alleges ownership or control of the instrumentality, a duty to use reasonable care to keep it in strong and safe condition, negligent breach, and property damage proximately caused by that breach. The majority treated similar allegations as concise and substantially certain enough without demanding technical detail. (Derived from Newlin v. New England Telephone Co. (n.d.).)