Breed v. Philgas Co.
| Decision Date | 06 February 1934 |
| Citation | 118 Conn. 128,171 A. 14 |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Parties | BREED v. PHILGAS CO. FOSTER v. SAME. |
Appeal from Superior Court, Fairfield County; Newell Jennings Judge.
Action by F. Nelson Breed, administrator of the estate of Rosa N Stewart, deceased, against the Philgas Company to recover damages for the death of his intestate, alleged to have been caused by an explosion due to the negligence of the defendant in the cellar of a house in which she was employed; and action by William D. Foster against the Philgas Company to recover damage to the house in which the explosion occurred and to the property therein. The cases were tried together to a Jury. Verdict in favor of the plaintiff in each case, and the defendant appeals.
No error.
Raymond E. Hackett, of Stamford, for appellant.
Richard S. Swain and Bradford, Boardman, both of Bridgeport, for appellees.
Argued before MALTBIE, C.J., and HAINES, HINMAN, BANKS, and AVERY, JJ.
On May 23, 1932, at about 8 p. m. daylight saving time, and explosion occurred in the cellar of the home of the plaintiff Foster, as the result of which Rosa N. Stewart, a house-keeper employed by him, received burns from which she subsequently died. The plaintiff Breed, as administrator, brought an action to recover damages for her death; and Foster brought an action to recover for injuries to his house and contents. The plaintiffs in both cases alleged that an explosion of Philgas occurred in the cellar which caused the death of the maid and the injuries to the property; and claimed that the explosion was due to the negligence of the defendant. The two cases were tried together before a jury and verdicts returned, in favor of the plaintiffs, from which the defendant has appealed, assigning error in the action of the trial court in failing to set aside the verdicts; and also errors in the charge and in a ruling upon evidence.
On the trial, at the close of the plaintiff's case, the defendant rested. From the evidence offered by the plaintiffs, however, the jury might reasonably have found the following facts: The plaintiff William D. Foster owned a dwelling house, situated on Hoyden Hill road, Fairfield, where he lived, and employed Rosa N. Stewart as a housekeeper. Some time prior to the accident, the defendant, under a contract with Foster, installed a system for the burning of Philgas: the defendant to supply the gas and service the system. The installation consisted of a gas cooking stove in the kitchen, a water heater connected with a boiler in the cellar, and a rigid piping system connecting these appliances to two separate storage tanks outside the building. Each tank, when full, contained enough gas to supply an average family for a period of a month. The tanks were placed within steel cabinets standing on top of the ground, side by side, which were from six to twelve inches from the north wall of the house. The rigid pipe from the system, within the cellar extended into each cabinet through a hole near the top for a distance of about two and one-half inches. To this rigid pipe was connected a flexible metal pipe, made of brass, connecting the rigid piping system extending into the cellar with the rigid piping of the tanks containing Philgas.
There was an excess length of flexible metal pipe to enable the defendant to raise and lower the gas tank in each cabinet and fill the same without disconnecting it from the system. When a gas tank was at rest within the cabinet, the flexible pipe lay in curves inside the cabinet. In replenishing the gas tank, it was raised by a jack and weighed, and the amount of gas therein determined by the weight. The tanks were filled from a wagon, the gas being at high pressure and in liquid form. On each tank was a valve to control the flow in the process of filling. There was also a valve by which the outflow into the piping system could be shut off; and, in addition to these two, there was an automatic valve, not manually controlled, on the top of each tank by which the pressure of the gas, entering the piping system, was regulated. A rigid pipe extended out of each container to a common supply pipe running horizontally along the northerly wall of the house. From the supply pipe, connection was made through the cellar wall to the stove and heater. It was possible for gas to flow through the supply pipe from one tank as far as the regulating valve on the other. The control valves of the tanks were so adjusted that the gas in the west tank would commence to flow. Each tank was inclosed in a cabinet upon the top of which was a hinged cover arranged to be locked. When this cover was closed, the valves and flexible metal pipe were entirely inclosed in the cabinet and could not be seen or touched. The covers were kept closed and locked at all times except when the tanks were being serviced by the defendant, and the keys were at all times solely in its possession.
Between 12 and 1 o'clock on the day of the explosion, a service man of the defendant weighed and filled the westerly tank, and weighed the easterly tank and found that it was full. After weighing each tank, the lid on each cabinet was closed and locked by him. Thereafter, he went into the cellar with Rosa Stewart; they each lighted and turned off the gas in the hot water heater, and left the cellar. Rosa Stewart was employed by Foster to do the cooking and general housework. It was her custom to light the water heater in the morning before breakfast and again at night just before or just after dinner. There was a coal stove for cooking in the kitchen, on top of which she also heated water. This stove was not connected with the boiler in the cellar. On the day of the accident, she had a fire in the coal cook stove, and there was no evidence that she used the gas attachments that night. After she left the cellar with the defendant's agent, no attempt to light the gas water heater was made until about 8 p. m. daylight saving time on the same day.
The Foster house was an old one. Some time prior to his occupancy, an addition containing the kitchen had been built onto the westerly end. There was no cellar beneath the kitchen but an excavated space about three feet deep. The north foundation wall of the original house was continued westerly to form the north foundation wall of the kitchen. The westerly foundation wall of the original house separated the excavated portion under the kitchen from the cellar. The latter had head room of about six feet four inches and contained the gas water heater. There was an opening from the cellar through the westerly wall into the space under the kitchen about two to two and one-half feet square. The north side of this opening commenced at a point eight to ten inches from...
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...defendant, to prevail, must produce evidence accepted as credible by the trier and sufficient to sustain that burden. Breed v. Philgas Co., 118 Conn. 128, 136, 171 A. 14; Hatch v. Merigold, 119 Conn. 339, 342, 176 A. 266, 96 A.L.R. 1114; LeBlanc v. Grillo, 129 Conn. 378, 384, 28 A.2d 127. T......
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