Adams v. Bullock

Case brief summary

Facts

A 12 year old boy swung a long wire on a bridge and it touched a trolley company's overhead electric wire below, shocking and burning him.

Procedural history

The boy won money damages at the trial court, and a mid level appeals court upheld that result by a split decision.

Issue

Did the trolley company fail to use reasonable care by placing its overhead wire where this accident could happen?

Holding

The court reversed the decision in favor of the boy and ordered a new trial, finding the company was not careless.

Reasoning

The wire was placed too high for anyone to normally touch, nothing like this had happened before, and the company had no real way to predict or prevent such a freak accident.

Opinions

Majority (Cardozo): The trolley company used reasonable care because this unusual accident was not something ordinary foresight could have predicted or prevented.