“It strains reason to suggest that the utility companies should foresee the sort of wilful disregard for the law and personal safety that indisputably led to this accident.” —Crone, Judge 

Facts: Three teenagers, Sarah Mitchell, Adam Jacobs, and David Messer, were driving in Mitchell’s car at 2:30 am in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mitchell was driving the car, Jacobs was in the front passenger seat, and Messer was in the back seat. Jacobs suggested that they “jump the hills” on Edgewood Avenue, where the speed limit was 40 miles per hour. Mitchell speeded up her car to jump the “big hill” on Edgewood Avenue. The car crested the hill at 80 miles per hour, went airborne, and landed on the road. Mitchell lost control of the car, which sideswiped a Bell Telephone Company utility pole and spun clockwise until the car slammed into an Indianapolis Power & Light Company utility pole. Messer escaped from the burning wreckage but Mitchell and Jacobs died. Susan Carter, the personal representative of the estate of Adam Jacobs, sued both utility companies, alleging that the companies were negligent in the placement of their utility poles along Edgewood Avenue. The defendant companies proved that their utility poles were legally placed twenty-five feet from Edgewood Avenue at the edge of the companies’ right of way. The trial court held that the utility companies were not negligent and granted summary judgment in favor of the companies. 

Issue: Were the utility companies negligent? 

Language of the Court: It strains reason to suggest that the utility companies should foresee the sort of wilful disregard for the law and personal safety that indisputably led to this accident. There is nothing to suggest that the poles’ location is inherently dangerous to those who engage in the ordinary and normal public use of Edgewood Avenue. 

Decision: The court of appeals held that the defendants were not negligent and affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to the defendant utility companies. 

Ethics Questions: Did the utility companies owe a duty to foresee, and therefore move their utility poles to accommodate Mitchell’s reckless driving? Did Adams’s actions contribute to the accident?