Beverly v. Central Ill. Elec. & Gas Co.

• Decision Date: 17 February 1955
• Docket Number: Gen. No. 10778
• Citation: 5 Ill.App.2d 27,124 N.E.2d 669
• Parties: Elsie BEVERLY, Elroy J. Heim, and Violet Heim, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. CENTRAL ILLINOIS ELECTRIC AND GAS CO., an Illinois Corporation, Defendant- Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 669

124 N.E.2d 669

5 Ill.App.2d 27

Elsie BEVERLY, Elroy J. Heim, and Violet Heim, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. CENTRAL ILLINOIS ELECTRIC AND GAS CO., an Illinois Corporation, Defendant- Appellant.

Gen. No. 10778.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District.

Feb. 17, 1955.

Hyer, Gill & Brown, Rockford, Burrell & Holtan, Freeport, for defendant-appellant.

Bert P. Snow, Freeport, for plaintiffs-appellees.

DOVE, Justice.

This action was brought by the plaintiffs against the Central Illinois Electric and Gas Company, a corporation, to recover damages to certain real and personal property which they owned and also for personal injuries suffered by the plaintiff, Elsie Beverly, as the result of an explosion which occurred in the dwelling where the plaintiffs resided. The complaint charged the defendant with acts of negligence, as hereinafter set forth, all of which were traversed by the answer of the defendant. The issues thus made by the pleadings were submitted to a jury, resulting in three verdicts: one in favor of Elsie Beverly for seven thousand dollars for damages to her real estate; another in her favor for eight thousand dollars for personal injuries which she suffered; and a third verdict for forty-five hundred dollars for damages to the personal property of the plaintiffs, Elroy J. Heim and Violet Heim. Upon these verdicts judgments were rendered, and the defendant appeals.

The complaint alleged that on January 13, 1953, plaintiff, Elsie Beverly, was the owner of certain real estate located at No. 547 North Waddell Avenue, in Freeport, Illinois; that she was selling this property to the Plaintiffs, Elroy J. Heim and Violet Heim (husband and wife) on a contract for deed; that the said real estate was improved with an eight-room frame house of the approximate value of Seventy-Five Hundred Dollars; that the defendant was engaged in the distribution of natural gas in the City of Freeport and had a franchise for such purpose; that the defendant installed a gas main running down the east side of North Waddell Avenue, which gas main passed within thirty-three feet of the west edge of plaintiffs' house and that Waddell Avenue was a dirt and gravel street. The complaint then alleged that the defendant was guilty of one or more of the following negligent acts or omissions: (a) Negligently maintaining and operating its gas main along North Waddell Avenue; (b) Negligently laying its gas main at the shallow depth of two to three feet below the surface of a gravel and mud street; (c) Negligently laying its gas main at a shallow depth in a street which it knew was traveled by heavy vehicular traffic; (d) Negligently installing its gas main over a concrete culvert which was located about ninety feet from plaintiffs' house and which gas main came within eighteen inches of the surface of the street where it passed over a concrete culvert; (e) Negligently installing a dresser coupling in the gas main at the point near where the gas main rose over the culvert aforesaid, which coupling would easily separate when subjected to heavy vehicular traffic; (f) Negligently installing its gas main in such a manner as to be incapable of containing the high gas pressure forced through the main; (g) Negligently failing to properly inspect its gas main, and (h) Negligently failing to odorize its gas so that the same could be detected in the event of escape. The complaint then charged that, as a direct and proximate result of one or more of the aforesaid acts or omissions, gas from the defendant's gas main escaped and entered the premises owned by the plaintiffs, and there accumulated in explosive quantities and, on January 13, 1953, did explode and damage the house of plaintiff, Elsie Beverly, and the personal property of the plaintiffs, Elroy J. and Violet Heim, and severely injured the plaintiff, Elsie Beverly.

The evidence discloses that the plaintiffs' property faced west toward Waddell Street in Freeport, and was about thirty feet from a dirt gutter which ran along the east side of Waddell Street; that the north side of the house was about seventy-five feet south of Elm Street, which was an east and west street intersecting Waddell and that neither street was paved, but each had dirt and gravel surfaces. In the fall of 1952, the City of Freeport had laid a public tile sewer in Waddell Street about nine feet deep and thereafter the defendant laid a four-inch steel gas main in Waddell Street from four to ten feet east of the city sewer and at about a depth of thirty inches in front of plaintiffs' house. In the north half of the intersection of Elm and Waddell Streets, was located a sub-surface culvert, which acted as a conduit for an underground stream. When the defendant laid its gas main it had to angle it upward where the culvert was located so as to permit passage over it, and at the point of passage over the culvert the gas main was about twenty inches under the surface of the street.

In order to effect such construction, it was necessary that the sections of the gas main be joined with what is known as a dresser coupling, which is a sleeve into which the opposing ends of the gas main are placed about five inches apart and the ends of the coupling are then anchored around the main. In November, 1952, the plaintiffs had a sewer contractor lay a cast iron sewer lateral from the sewer main of the city in Waddell Street to the north west corner of their house. This sewer was about eight feet in depth where it connected with the city's main and extended on an upward gradient to about six feet, where it entered the plaintiffs' basement and passed about three and one-half to four feet under the defendant's gas main. This sewer dith connecting the city's main with the plaintiffs' property was back filled with the same material which had been removed from it when digging. The defendant filled the trench in which it laid its gas main with about six inches of sand over the main and the balance with dirt. Where the sewer entered the plaintiffs' house at the northwest corner, it had a horizontal opening for the soil pipe and a vertical stub, which was also open, for later attachment to plumbing fixtures. The basement under the plaintiffs' house was only partially excavated, with the excavated portion being under the northwest portion of the house. In the excavated portion of plaintiffs' basement there was an automatic oil burner and a 275-gallon fuel oil tank which served the burner. In the kitchen of the plaintiffs' house there was located a standard propane gas stove against the north wall, which was serviced by outside tanks located at the northeast corner of the house.

Plaintiff, Elsie Beverly, testified that she was seventy years of age and had lived at the house in question for thirty-six years. She resided there with her daughter, the plaintiff, Violet Heim, and her daughter's husband, the plaintiff, Elroy J. Heim. On the day of the explosion, January 13, 1953, she testified that she used the propane gas stove to make coffee in the morning and then went to visit her granddaughter. The stove worked properly at that time and she did not notice any gas escaping from it. She returned home about two o'clock in the afternoon, at which time she made herself a cup of Sanka, heating the water for it on the stove. At about 3:20 o'clock, she went into the kitchen to start the evening meal. She put some potatoes on the stove in a pan of water and turned on one of the burners. She then put a skillet on the stove to warm and turned on another burner. When she turned on the second burner, she testified that 'there was a sort of a fire which flamed up from it. It was in the air, one and one-half to two and one-half feet above the stove.' She turned the fire off and then turned it back on again,...