AMERICAN TELEPHONE & TELEGRAPH CO. v. SPRING

AMERICAN TELEPHONE & TELEGRAPH CO. v. SPRING. (Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit. February 23, 1922.) No. 1936. Telegraphs and telephones (@=326%, New, vol. 7A Key-No. Series — Company not liable for torts during federal control. A telegraph company is not liable for acts of its former employees while engaged under government control in the operation of its property. In Error to the District Court of the United States for the Northern District of West Virginia, at Martinsburg; William F. Baker, Judge. Action at law by Mary F. Spring against the American Telephone & Telegraph Company. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Reversed. ,D. H. Frapwell, of New York City, and Martin & Seibert, of Mar-tinsburg, W. Va., for plaintiff in error. Before KNAPP and WADDIFF, Circuit Judges, and ROSE, District Judge. [MAJORITY — PER CURIAM.] PER CURIAM. The injury'sued for in this case was inflicted 18 days after the President look over the telegraph and telephone system of the country, in pursuance of the authority conferred upon him by the Joint Resolution of Congress of July 16, 1918, 40 Stat. 904. Months subsequent to the disposal of this case below, the Supreme Court decided that telegraph and telephone companies were not liable for the acts of their former employees while engaged under government control in the operation of their uroperty. Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Poston, 256 U. S. 662, 41 Sup. Ct. 598, 65 L. Ed. 1157. It follows that the judgment in favor of the defendant in error, plaintiff below, must be reversed.