Is the law an ass?

[Diatryma]

Hi all,

You are flying an Ag operation, and hit a power line bringing it to ground in a paddock.

You get back to base OK and call the authorities to report the incident - including notifying the power company.

Sometime later a power company employee whilst attending to the damaged power cable gets himself electrocuted.

You are taken to court over the matter.

Would you expect to be held liable for the injuries to the power company employee?

Well you could be found liable!

Di :\

[merlinxx]

Did the power line have banners/pendants attached? Surely all power lines should have these banners attached, all my visits in-country OZ, I've seen them, OK only in NSW.

[scooter boy]

As a non-lawyer my opinion is worth little but I would think that the power company may be able to have a tilt at your insurance company wrt the cost of the powerline repair.

You definitely did the right thing in reporting the incident and fessing up.

If the guy repairing it gets a shock that is now not your responsibility, the power company should have shut things down properly.

This is a bit like me operating on a patient who has been hit by a hit-and-run driver and cutting myself and getting Hep B and then trying to sue the hit-and-run driver over it - total nonsense.

Your responsibility has limits and IMHO your responsibility ended when you informed the power company of the wire strike. Safety at the site then became their responsibility.

Sounds a bit like the movie "the man who sued God" with Billy Connolly except less funny,

Good luck,

SB

[Low-Pass]

Is the law an ass? That depends if they find you guilty. If not, then it's just the insurance company that's an ass.

Hard break for you but it's just insurance companies playing funny buggers. To play the game, you really need to counter-sue for something like damage to the aircraft. And then it goes to court for a few years. The insurance company employees just go and do their job, 9 -5 and forget about it over the weekend while you get to have it hang over you for all that time. Sounds fair, heh? :{

Good luck :ok:

[doubleu-anker]

Is the law an ass?

Yes it is. It certainly, in a lot of cases, is not about justice, believe me.

[SLFguy]

"Consequential Damages"

[Diatryma]

Thanks for the responses guys.

Merlinxx - no banners or anything in this case. Aus is a huge country, and not easy to cover every situation with banners, balls or whatever. Just not practical on most occasions IMHO. But the real issue here is should I be held legally liable for the power company employee not being properly trained - or just stuffing it up himself?

Low Pass - you're way off beam. Obviously hate insurance companies. But you missed the point here.

Scooter Boy - mate you hit all the nails right on the head. Good luck may well be needed as this matter is going to have to go to appeal at great cost.

If someone was walking through the paddock collecting mushrooms (legally OK!) and stepped on the power line I knocked down minutes earlier, then I could wear being held liable. But we called the power company ASAP and they sent someone to fix the problem. How is it my responsibility that he doesn't do his job properly?

And this is all costing all of us via our insurance premiums increasing due to stupid decisions like this.

Di :*

[merlinxx]

'tis the power company for not shutting down the power supply & the workers negligence in not ensuring the power was cut. IMHO this is a pure Health & Safety breach by the power company. Suggest you call your local H&E person in your local council, I know it works similarly in OZ as here as have friends in west NSW who some years ago had a not dissimilar situ with a "ute" & pole mating incident!