Dobson v. Louisiana Power & Light Co.
Louisiana Supreme Court
567 So. 2d 569 (1990)
- Written by Craig Conway, LLM
Facts
Dwane Dobson, a commercial tree trimmer, died after being electrocuted when his metallically reinforced safety rope contacted an uninsulated 8,000 volt, electric-power distribution line. Dobson’s wife, Teri (plaintiff), filed a wrongful death suit against Louisiana Power & Light Company (LP&L) (defendant). At trial, evidence was presented to show that Dwane may have been partly responsible for his own death. Nevertheless, the trial court awarded Teri over $1 million in damages after finding Dwane free from fault and holding LP&L liable for failure to: (1) maintain its right of way, (2) insulate the high voltage distribution line, and (3) give proper warnings of the power line’s dangerous nature. LP&L appealed. The court of appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court but reduced Teri's recovery by 70 percent based on a finding that Dwane had been partly at fault. The Louisiana Supreme Court granted certiorari to review.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Dennis, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.