Wolff v. Shreveport Gas, Electric Light & Power Co.

• Decision Date: 10 January 1916
• Docket Number: 20242
• Citation: 70 So. 789,138 La. 743
• Parties: WOLFF v. SHREVEPORT GAS, ELECTRIC LIGHT & POWER CO. et al
• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court

70 So. 789

138 La. 743

WOLFF v. SHREVEPORT GAS, ELECTRIC LIGHT & POWER CO. et al

No. 20242

Supreme Court of Louisiana

January 10, 1916

Rehearing Denied February 7, 1916.

The following is the diagram referre

Alexander & Wilkinson and E. W. & P. N. Browne, all of Shreveport, for appellants.

Blanchard & Smith, of Shreveport, for appellee.

Statement of the Case.

OPINION

MONROE, C. J.

The Shreveport Gas, Electric Light & Power Company, a corporation established under the laws of this state (hereafter designated as 'Shreveport Company'), and the Southwestern Gas & Electric Company, a corporation established under the laws of the state of Delaware (hereafter designated as 'Southwestern Company'), are appellants from a verdict and judgment condemning them, in soliddo, to pay to plaintiff the sum of $ 2,427 as damages resulting from personal injuries sustained by him in consequence of an explosion of gas, attributed to the negligence of the company first above named.

Plaintiff's original petition contains the following, among other allegations, to wit:

'That the explosion was directly caused by an accumulation of natural gas that had leaked from the gas company's main pipe, * * * in Texas street, or from the said company's supply pipe that conveys the gas from the main pipe to the meters in the Chamberlain Cafe, * * * and that said gas accumulated under the floor of said building and had become ignited. * * * That the said leakage * * * and explosion * * * were due to the fault * * * of the Shreveport * * * Company, in this, to wit:

'That the said company had not made any inspection of its main pipe, nor its supply pipes that connect the buildings on Texas street, since the same had been laid, which was about 1875. That the said company had not made any provisions by which it might make a test or inspection of the said main pipe or supply pipes, without tearing up the street; i. e that it had no appurtenances, such as shut-off valves, shut-off cocks, or other similar conveniences, by which it could get at said pipes in order to inspect them or to detect the leaks in them. That said company had no regular or efficient system of inspection of its main and appurtenant pipes by which it could ascertain and detect the rust, decay, and breaks in said iron pipes. * * * That said company should have installed heavier and stronger pipes, at the time that it contracted to convey natural gas. * * * That the pipes then in use were corroded and leaky. That the said pipes were intended to convey manufactured gas, and not natural gas, and therefore the joints were not threaded and fitted, as they should have been to hold natural gas. That the main pipe in Texas street and the supply lead to the Chamberlain Cafe had been in the earth since about the year 1875, and the same were rusty, decayed, and leaky, and the said pipes did break and leak and are the direct and proximate cause of the gas accumulation under Chamberlains's Cafe, and that such gas * * * was the proximate cause of the explosion. That said company failed to install shut-off cocks at that establishment, as required by law. * * * That, since the explosion, * * * other explosions, at other establishments in the same vicinity, have occurred, * * * and that said explosions were also due to the leaks in the main and supply pipes of said company. * * * Petitioner shows that on October 28, 1912, the Shreveport * * * Company, incorporated under all of its assets, of every nature, to the Southwestern * * * Company, incorporated under the laws of the state of Delaware, for * * * $ 1,000. * * * That the said Southwestern * * * Company is composed of practically the same parties who owned and composed the Shreveport * * * Company, and that, in reality, the alleged sale was a mere consolidation or reorganization, or * * * the Southwestern * * * Company is merely the reincarnation of the Shreveport * * * Company; or, in the event it should be held that the said Southwestern * * * Company was not a consolidation or reorganization of the old company, along with others, then, and in that event, petitioner alleges that the Shreveport * * * Company is in fact merged into the Southwestern * * * Company, and that said company has acquired all of the old company's assets and business and has left the Shreveport * * * Company merely a corporate shell, and that the said Southwestern * * * Company did not assume any liabilities of the Shreveport * * * Company, but bought subject to the mortgage or bonded indebtedness against the Shreveport * * * Company. That the alleged sale or transaction was without any real consideration and was a mere division (diversion) of the corporate property of the Shreveport * * * Company to the said Southwestern * * * Company. That the said Southwestern * * * Company, having taken over all the assets of the Shreveport * * * Company, without any consideration or any transaction in which any real consideration was paid, is liable for all debts and liabilities of the Shreveport * * * Company.'

He prays for judgment against the two companies, in solido, or, in the alternative, should the court hold that the said 'Southwestern * * * Company is not indebted in solido with the Shreveport * * * Company, then, and in that event, for a judgment against said Southwestern * * * Company * * * and for all further and necessary orders and for general relief.'

By supplemental petition plaintiff further prayed for citation of, and judgment (in solido with the other defendants) against, the owners, and J. W. Chamberlain, lessee of the Chamberlain Cafe property, alleging:

'That the said owners had the said building piped and fitted for the use of gas, and that the said J. W. Chamberlain also equipped the said place of business with gas fixtures, pipes, etc., necessary for cooking and heating in said building. * * * That the said pipes and fixtures were not properly installed, * * * and that they were permitted to deteriorate and become defective, in that natural gas was permitted to escape, and that the said natural gas, * * * added to that escaping from the pipes of the Shreveport * * * Company, caused an explosion on January 2d, that demolished the building, * * * injuring your petitioner, as fully set forth in his original petition. * * * That proper inspection of the said gas pipes and fixtures would have disclosed the defects * * * of the same, whereby natural gas was permitted to escape. * * * That the said owners * * * and the said Chamberlain were * * * each and every one of them guilty of negligence in permitting natural gas to escape * * * and in failing to have the said pipes and fixtures inspected.'

The owners and lessee filed pleas of misjoinder and estoppel (based upon the allegations of the original petition), which pleas were sustained, and, as no appeal was taken from that judgment, those parties are eliminated from the case.

The Southwestern Company filed an exception of no cause of action, which was overruled, after which the two companies joined in a general denial, followed by the allegations that the pipes of the Shreveport Company were suitable for the conveyance of gas, were in good condition at the time of the accident, and were properly inspected; that the company had no control of, or responsibility for, the pipes leading into the building in question; and that, if any gas leaked into the basement of said building, it must have come from pipes belonging to, and controlled by, other persons.

We find the following facts established by the testimony, to wit:

Plaintiff was walking on the south side of Texas street, at about 9:30 o'clock on the morning of January 2, 1912 when, suddenly in front of 'Chamberlain's Cafe, he became unconscious, and, shortly afterwards, found himself, lying, bleeding profusely about the head, upon a bolt of cloth, in a nearby store, whence he was removed to a sanitarium, where his wounds, which had been inflicted by flying glass, were cleansed, sewed, where sewing was required, and dressed, after which he was taken home, where he was confined to his bed, or apartment, for about three weeks, and then, though able to go out, continued, for three weeks more, to have his wounds dressed and bandaged every few days, and, for another six weeks, was hardly in a condition properly to attend to his business.' He appears, however, to have sustained no permanent injury or disfigurement. Chamberlain's Cafe was situated in a much frequented locality, and in a building which had a frontage of 20 feet on Texas street, by a depth not shown. The front, and main, room, in which the patrons were served, appears to have been about 40 feet deep by the width of the building. It had a show window in the eastern side of the front, a counter, set out some 3 or 4 feet from the wall and extending nearly the depth of the room, on the same side, and a door in the front in the western side. The floor was elevated from 18 inches to 2 feet above the ground, and the ground underneath was, and had always been, in bad condition, by reason of water and sewerage which stands there. In the sidewalk, immediately in front of the show window, there was an excavation, say 20X14 inches and 12 inches deep, with a grating over it, which was intended to afford ventilation under the floor. Gas was introduced into the establishment from a cast-iron main pipe laid in the street, through a wrought-iron service pipe which passed underneath the ventilator and the window, and, after entering the premises, was supplied with a 'Y' or 'T' joint and thus extended in two directions; the one, to a meter which stood behind the counter at a distance, as we take it, of 6 or 7 feet from the front; and the other, to a meter which stood in the back room (or kitchen, as we shall...