Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. v. Ross, 2531-2534.

• Decision Date: 10 December 1942
• Docket Number: No. 2531-2534.,2531-2534.
• Citation: 131 F.2d 238
• Parties: OKLAHOMA NATURAL GAS CO. v. ROSS (four cases).
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

131 F.2d 238 (1942)

OKLAHOMA NATURAL GAS CO. v. ROSS (four cases).

Nos. 2531-2534.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

November 2, 1942.

Rehearing Denied December 10, 1942.

Paul Pinson, of Tulsa, Okl. (I. J. Underwood and O. L. Lupardus, both of Tulsa, Okl., on the brief), for appellant.

J. B. Moore, of Ardmore, Okl. (Gomer Smith, of Oklahoma City, Okl., on the brief), for appellees.

Before PHILLIPS, BRATTON, and HUXMAN, Circuit Judges.

HUXMAN, Circuit Judge.

W. E. Ross, his wife and seven minor children, lived in a four-room house in Ardmore, Oklahoma. On the early morning of December 14, 1939, the house was destroyed by fire. Some members of the family lost their lives and others were seriously injured. Four separate actions were instituted against the Oklahoma Natural Gas Company, seeking recovery of damages. The cases were consolidated for trial. Separate verdicts were returned and separate judgments were entered in each case in favor of the plaintiffs and against the company. Separate appeals were taken from each judgment. The cases were consolidated here.

The charge against the company was that it negligently failed to shut off the gas at the meter, and also negligently permitted gas to escape around a defective joint near the meter; that as the proximate result of such negligence, gas escaped either through the meter and entered the house through the service pipes or escaped at the leak in the union and accumulated under the house and then entered the house through cracks and crevices in the floors and walls where it accumulated in sufficient quantities so that when a fire was kindled and a lamp was lit, it ignited and caused the fire with the resulting injuries.

The principal contention for the reversal of the several judgments is that they are not supported by substantial testimony. The evidence on behalf of the plaintiffs established the following facts: The house was a four-room house, set on piers. It was enclosed to the ground on three sides, but was open on the south side. The house was piped for gas. Although the Ross family was not using gas, the meter, which was located immediately adjacent to a small porch on the south side, was not disconnected, and two service or riser pipes which entered the house were left uncapped.

Early on the morning of the fire, Mrs. Ross arose and started a fire in a stove, using a small quantity of kerosene. Shortly thereafter her husband started a fire in the kitchen stove, also using a small quantity of kerosene. The fire started almost immediately. The fire at its inception was confined largely to the upper portions of the rooms. It was a quick fire. Mrs. Ross heard a roar and saw a flash and then the air took fire and roared over their heads. Neighbors living nearby had their attention attracted by a noise that sounded like a combustion; great flames were running out of windows; glass was breaking; the fire was all around the eaves; the windows looked as if they were pushed out; the roof seemed to jump up.

G. B. Curtis testified that he got to the fire before the fire department arrived and that he saw a blue flame at the meter. Three other witnesses testified that they went over shortly after the fire was put out, about the time the firemen were leaving, and heard the hissing of escaping gas about the meter and saw a meter hand moving around. Doctors testified that the burns of the injured were "flash burns" caused by gasoline, gas or coal oil. A fireman of twenty years' experience and the fire chief...