Patrick V. South Central Bell Telephone Co‪.‬

This is an appeal from the judgment of the district court in an action which originally consisted of two distinct lawsuits and was tried in two separate parts. Both lawsuits were based on diversity jurisdiction. The first lawsuit dealt with plaintiff-appellee Patrick's wrongful death action against defendant-appellee South Central Bell Telephone Company. This action was tried to a jury and a verdict was returned in Patrick's favor in the amount of Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($200,000) plus costs. The second lawsuit dealt with South Central Bell's third-party complaint against the City of Columbia to recover the judgment paid to Patrick under the terms of a Joint Use Pole Contract between the parties. Columbia counterclaimed against South Central Bell to recover, on behalf of its insurance carriers, various benefits that were paid out to Patrick. This action was tried before the court sitting without a jury and the court denied recovery to each claimant.