Del Rosario vs.

Manila Electric
57 Phil. 478 (source)
Facts: Shortly after 2 o clock in the afternoon trouble developed in an overhead w
ire conducting electricity for lighting purposes in the City of
Manila. The wire soon parted and one of the charged ends fell to the ground in t
he shrubbery close to the way. The lighting company received a telephonic report
of this incident as 2:25 p.m., and promised to send an inspector. At 4 p.m. the
neighborhood school was dismissed and as the children went home one of the boys
, of the age of 9 years, touched the wire with his hand and received a shock whi
ch resulted in death. This action was instituted by the parents of the deceased
boy to recovery damages from the defendant.
Held: We are of the opinion that the presumption of negligence on the part of the
company from the breakage of its wire has not been overcome, and the defendant
is in our opinion responsible for the accident. Furthermore, when notice was rec
eived at the Malabon station at 2:25 p.m. somebody should have been dispatched t
o the scene of the trouble at once, or other measures, taken to guard the point
of danger, but more than an hour and a half passed before anyone representing th
e company appeared on the scene, and in the meantime this child had been claimed
as a victim.