Liberty Homes v. Stratton, 35192
| Decision Date | 27 September 1954 |
| Docket Number | No. 1,No. 35192,35192,1 |
| Citation | 83 S.E.2d 818,90 Ga.App. 675 |
| Parties | LIBERTY HOMES, Inc. v. Axel STRATTON et al |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court.
The negligence alleged agaisnt the defendant gas company was an intervening efficient cause and was the sole proximate cause of the plaintiff's damages; therefore the court erred in overruling the general demurrer of the defendant landlord, Liberty Homes, Inc.
Axel Stratton sued Liberty Homes, Inc., and Central Georgia Gas Company for damages allegedly caused by the defendants' negligence. The petition alleges in substance: that on or about September 22, 1953, the plaintiff and his wife rented from the defendant Liberty Homes, Inc., and went into actual possession of, a house located in Ludowici, Georgia; the house when built by the defendant Liberty Homes, Inc., was equipped with a butane-gas floor furnace connected to and served by a central butane-gas storage tank; the fuel pipe conducting the butane gas from the central tank to the floor furnace was equipped with a standard gas meter, which was easily accessible to the defendants and other parties having occasion to observe same; the said fuel pipe was laid under the ground from the central tank to the point where it entered said house, at which point it extended out of the ground and was affixed to the foundation wall of the house for a distance of approximately two feet, where the pipe penetrated the foundation wall at a point approximately two feet above the surface of the ground; the pipe then extended under the house to a butane-gas floor furnace located approximately ten feet from the point where the pipe penetrated the foundation wall; said pipe was attached to the underside of the floor joists by the use of clamps; the pipe was copper and was bright of color; subsequently to the time of completion of the house and the installation of the gas system described, the defendant landlord employed a person to install a tee joint leading from the furnace fuel line at a point between its entry through the foundation wall and the furnace and running to the kitchen located approximately eight feet from the tee-joint; the person so hired was not licensed by the State Fire Marshal or his authority to install butane-gas appliances, and thus such installation was in violation of State law; such installation was made for the benefit of a prior tenant who had a butane cooking stove in the kitchen of said house; the prior tenant, upon vacating said house, notified the landlord's agents of his intention to disconnect his gas range and was instructed by the agents to remove the range, which the tenant did; at the time the range was disconnected, the gas was turned off at the meter attached to the house, thereby completely shutting off the entire flow of gas into the house; the removal of the range left the gas line in the kitchen open-ended, which condition existed for approximately two months and between the dates of September 22 and September 27, 1953; the defendant gas company is engaged in the sale and installation of butane or bottled gas used for heating and cooking purposes; the gas company sold such gas to the tenants of Liberty Homes, Inc., and serviced said butane gas equipment, including the house rented to the plaintiff; on September 26, 1953, the plaintiff and his wife had locked their residence and had gone to Savannah, Georgia; at about 2 p.m. on that day, the gas company through its agent went upon the premises rented by the plaintiff without permission of the plaintiff for the purpose of turning on the gas and igniting the floor furnace preparatory to cold weather; said agent crawled underneath the house through an aperture in the foundation wall and ignited a pilot light in the floor furnace; in crawling to the floor furnace the agent crawled directly beneath the tee-joint hereinbefore mentioned and within a very few inches...
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