Mathis v. Massachusetts Electric Co.

Sixteen-year-old Brian Mathis (plaintiff) climbed a utility pole in his family's yard, owned jointly by Massachusetts Electric (MEC) (defendant) and New England Telephone (NET) (defendant), and was shocked and seriously injured when he reached the electrified top. Mathis sued both companies for negligence and violation of the state's child-trespasser statute; the jury found NET not negligent but found MEC violated its duty of reasonable care toward foreseeable child trespassers, while also finding Mathis 75 percent comparatively at fault to MEC's 25 percent, barring recovery under the state's comparative-negligence statute since Mathis was more than half at fault. Mathis's motion for a new trial was denied, and he appealed, arguing the child-trespasser statute imposed strict liability not subject to a comparative-negligence defense.