September 29, 1994
[NOT FOR PUBLICATION]
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT
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No. 94-1395
HECTOR ROMAN GONZALEZ, ET AL.,
Plaintiffs, Appellants,
v.
PUERTO RICO ELECTRIC POWER AUTHORITY, ET AL.,
Defendants, Appellees.
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APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
[Hon. Jaime Pieras, Jr., Senior U.S. District Judge]
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Before
Selya, Circuit Judge,
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Aldrich, Senior Circuit Judge,
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and Boudin, Circuit Judge.
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Victoria A. Ferrer-Kerber with whom Law Offices of Ferrer &
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Cardona was on brief for appellants.
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Lilliam Elisa Mendoza Toro, with whom Pedro Toledo was on brief
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for appellees.
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Per Curiam. This is a diversity action brought in
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the United States District Court for the District of Puerto
Rico for personal injury. Plaintiff, Hector Roman-Gonzalez,
as a lark, climbed a guy wire attached to a pole belonging to
defendant, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. He climbed
so high that his head came in contact with the high voltage
power line the pole was carrying, and he was severely burned.
On the basis of the pleadings, affidavits, and depositions of
experts, the court entered summary judgment for defendant,
and plaintiff appeals. We affirm, basically adopting the
court's comprehensive opinion.
After reciting the evidence, the court stated that
defendant had established that "no proximate cause exists
between any act or omission by PREPA and plaintiff's
injuries," even if defendant had been negligent with respect
to the guy wire. At first blush this raises a question,
since contributory negligence by a plaintiff does not
necessarily break the chain of causation. Widow of Davila v.
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Water Resources Authority, 90 P.R.R. 316 (1964). However,
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the court's concept was that defendant may have been
negligent with respect to a lineman properly at the locus,
but not as to plaintiff, who voluntarily trespassed. The
court's reasoning was defendant "could not have foreseen that
a twenty year-old would climb 23 to 24 feet on a guy wire to
amuse himself." "[T]he controlling factor in determining
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whether [defendant's] actions or inactions are negligent
[with respect to plaintiff] is the probability of risk
involved." "The Authority could not reasonably have foreseen
the situation . . . [which] was too fortuitous to require the
electric company to guard against it."
We agree. While anything is possible, there must
be a limit in a practical world to what conduct must
reasonably be foreseen. Small children could not be expected
to climb a wire to that height; a man of twenty ought to know
the difference between a slack, supporting guy wire openly
touchable at ground level, and an electric power line, and
that electricity is dangerous. Hence there was no duty to
either one to provide a more complex structure.
Affirmed.
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