{
  "id": 11274576,
  "name": "ORR v. SOUTHERN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY",
  "name_abbreviation": "Orr v. Southern Bell Telephone Co.",
  "decision_date": "1902-06-10",
  "docket_number": "",
  "first_page": "627",
  "last_page": "629",
  "citations": [
    {
      "type": "official",
      "cite": "130 N.C. 627"
    }
  ],
  "court": {
    "name_abbreviation": "N.C.",
    "id": 9292,
    "name": "Supreme Court of North Carolina"
  },
  "jurisdiction": {
    "id": 5,
    "name_long": "North Carolina",
    "name": "N.C."
  },
  "cites_to": [],
  "analysis": {
    "cardinality": 260,
    "char_count": 3830,
    "ocr_confidence": 0.37,
    "pagerank": {
      "raw": 3.0125758628904297e-07,
      "percentile": 0.8532910605985137
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    "sha256": "3c875d579dcb9a6584069fe0d51a421918a37181f4ed6958f74be768267a1910",
    "simhash": "1:dcc33c708013eb0c",
    "word_count": 715
  },
  "last_updated": "2023-07-14T15:31:43.301896+00:00",
  "provenance": {
    "date_added": "2019-08-29",
    "source": "Harvard",
    "batch": "2018"
  },
  "casebody": {
    "judges": [],
    "parties": [
      "ORR v. SOUTHERN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY."
    ],
    "opinions": [
      {
        "text": "Furches, C. J.\nThis action is brought to recover damages for injuries received in taking down, a telephone pole, caused by the negligence of the defendant. The evidence discloses the fact that one Wood was the superintendent of the defendant in charge of this work; that on the morning the plaintiff was injured he came up town to work on another job and Mr. Wood told him, \u201cYou can drop off from your work; I want you to go out with Purtle on the long-distance telephone line.\u201d The tools and appliances necessary for such work were in the tool-house of the defendant locked up, and Wood had the key. He unlocked the door and told the hands to put the tools in the wagon, and plaintiff put some of them in the wagon. He then went down stairs after some tie wire and while down there they\u201d called, \u201cCome on, we are ready,\u201d and he hurried down, got his \u201cdinner bucket,\u201d got in the wagon and off they went to where the work was to be done, a distance of about six miles. There were five of them, and they were to work under Mr. Purtle, and when they got to the place where the work was to be done Purtle put them to work \u2014 some to' digging up the old poles and some to digging holes for the new poles. When they got the old pqle ready to1 come down- Purtle said, \u201cCome on boys and take it down.\u201d This they undertook to do, but found they had neither pikes or \u201cdead men\u201d to do it with, and they undertook to take them down by hand and by using shovels in place of pikes. \u201cDead men\u201d and pikes are the usual implements used in doing such work, and plaintiff contends that if they had had pikes and \u201cdead men\u20197 the pole would not have fallen and he would not have been hurt. The plaintiff contends that Wood had the right to hire and discharge, and though he thought it was dangerous to take down these poles without pikes and \u201cdead men,\u201d he feared that if he did not obey the orders of Purtle he would be discharged by Wood.\nThe defendant undertakes to defend itself against the charge of negligence in not furnishing the necessary tools and appliances upon the ground that such tools and appliances were in the tool-house, and that it was the duty of the plaintiff to have gotten them; that he and the other hands were told to go to the tool-house and get the tools. This does not seem to us to be a satisfactory answer. Purtle was there and he was the \u201cboss,\u201d and, it seems to us, it would have been rather officious in the plaintiff, who- had just been hired that morning for a day\u2019s work, to have undertaken to supersede Purtle and \u201cboss\u201d the job.\nWe do not lay any stress upon the contention that plaintiff was afraid he would be turned off and lose his job if he did not obey Purtle. This doctrine has been carried to a very great extent, but it has never been carried to the extent of applying it to a hand employed for one day, so far as we are aware, and we do not propose to carry it to that extent in tbis case.\nBnt we do think it was the duty of the defendant to furnish' the plaintiff with the proper tools and appliances with which to' do this dangerous work, and that it was not the duty of the \u25a0plaintiff to furnish them. There was error in dismissing the action as upon nonsuit.\nNew trial.",
        "type": "majority",
        "author": "Furches, C. J."
      }
    ],
    "attorneys": [
      "J ones & Tillett, for the plaintiff.",
      "Maxwell & Keerans, for the defendant."
    ],
    "corrections": "",
    "head_matter": "ORR v. SOUTHERN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY.\n(Filed June 10, 1902.)\nNEGLIGENCE \u2014 Contributory 'Negligence \u2014 Personal Injuries \u2014 Telephones.\nWhere a telephone company fails to furnish an employee with proper tools and appliances, with which to do dangerous work, it is liable for injury caused by such negligence.\nActioN by J. S. L. Orr against tbe Southern Bell Telephone Company and others, heard by Judge H. B. Starbuck and a jury, at March Term, 1902, of the Superior Court of Meoelenbueg County. Erom a judgment for the defendant, the plaintiff appealed.\nJ ones & Tillett, for the plaintiff.\nMaxwell & Keerans, for the defendant."
  },
  "file_name": "0627-01",
  "first_page_order": 665,
  "last_page_order": 667
}