Geraci v. A. G. Tomasello & Son, Inc.
| Decision Date | 26 February 1936 |
| Citation | 293 Mass. 552 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
| Parties | ANTHONY GERACI v. A. G. TOMASELLO & SON, INC. JAMES GERACI v. SAME. |
January 7, 1936.
Present: RUGG, C.
J., CROSBY, FIELD LUMMUS, & QUA, JJ.
Negligence, In use of inflammable materials, Of one owning or controlling real estate. Proximate Cause.
Evidence that the owner of premises allowed oil or gasoline to accumulate around and under a large steel barrel of gasoline, that the oil or gasoline took fire from a cause not shown and heated the barrel and that the gasoline therein exploded, warranted a finding that the owner was negligent in allowing the oil or gasoline so to accumulate and that his negligence was the proximate cause of the explosion.
FIVE ACTIONS OF TORT. Writs in the Municipal Court of the City of Boston dated March 16, 23, and 28, 1933.
The actions were heard in the Municipal Court by Carr, J., who found for the plaintiffs in the sums, respectively, of $211.40, $211.40 $317.10, $211.40, and $211.40, and reported the actions to the Appellate Division. The report was ordered dismissed. The defendant appealed.
W. G. Reed, for the defendant. W. S. Kinney, for the plaintiffs.
These five actions of tort were tried together. The plaintiffs seek to recover for personal injuries alleged to have been received by them through negligence of the defendant, by reason of a fire and explosion on premises controlled by the defendant, while they were on the sidewalks of adjoining streets.
There was evidence that the premises consisted of a large open space; that about one hundred feet from the street line the defendant kept a steel barrel for the storage of gasoline, with a capacity of and containing about fifty gallons; that the barrel lay on its side on a wooden platform, and was about twenty-five or thirty feet from a shanty maintained on the premises for the use of the defendant's employees; that it had a "lockable" faucet at the head for drawing gasoline; that the keys of this faucet were kept in the shanty, which was not locked and that the foreman and anyone working on gas engines had right of access to the keys. There was also evidence that the defendant kept a watchman on the premises, and that after he had been around the premises he would stop at the shanty that within ten minutes before the breaking out of the fire he had been near the barrel; that it was getting dark, there were children running around the lot, and at the time the fire started "the watchman was chasing children off the lot"; that he did not know what caused the fire; that he was fifty feet away when it broke out; that he supposed it was oil that was burning, or it might have been gasoline that the fire was around and under the barrel; that it burned fifteen minutes before the explosion came, and then the barrel and burning substance went up into the air. There was evidence from the district fire chief that he was within four feet of the burning oil; that it seemed to him that waste oil had collected there for some time; that he could not say if it was gasoline or oil; that when he arrived the blaze was under the barrel and toward the front under the faucet; that it was slowly burning, running up...
To continue reading
Request your trial