Hunter v. Utility Pole 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
I know it's old. And it's a judicial opinion. I'm a legal editor and I just came across it. But I laughed soooo hard, and it DOES meet the criteria, so here goes: Bruce Thompson sued the Indiana Public Service Company after his electrocution. He lost. Late on the night of 3/27/81, he was running his dog on a raccoon when the coon ran up a wood utility pole. Thompson strapped on steel pole climbers and climbed up the pole 12 to 15 feet. He began, to use the court's language, "squalling at the raccoon and slapping the pole" to get the coon to jump off. The coon was perched on a slippery glass insulator. Frightened, he began running back and forth on the cross arms, and hit an uninsulated copper wire. The court: "When Thompson next recalled, he was lying at the foot of the pole, his dog asleep beside him. The raccoon, which had been burned, was found dead nearby. Thompson had suffered severe burns on his forearms, hands, and genitals, necessitating their amputation." And thereby successfully removing himself from the gene pool.
The court found Thompson was contributorily negligent and could not recover from the utility company. It said: "We find that the conduct of Thompson in climbing the utility pole and agitating the raccoon fell below the standard of care to which he should have conformed for his own protection....It seems clear that in climbing the utility pole, slapping it and squalling at the raccoon, thereby agitating it when it was perilously close to charged overhead wires, Thompson should have appreciated the sort of hazard that ultimately befell him." Perhaps "appreciate" isn't EXACTLY the right word! But I'd have loved to have been there....
Submitted on 07/17/2003
Submitted by:
Suzanne Core
Reference:
1986 Ind. App. LEXIS 3134
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