Lea v. Carolina Power and Light Company

The appellant assigns as error the ruling of the court below in sustaining the defendant’s motion for judgment as of nonsuit. She insists (1) that the case should have been submitted to the jury under the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, and (2) if the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur does not apply, then the case should have been submitted to the jury on the ground that defendant was negligent in permitting the poplar tree to exist within the reach of its wires.

The rule with respect to the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, as laid down in Scott v. The London Docks Co., 159 Eng. Rep. 665, has been…