Webb v. Standard Oil Co. of California

GIBSON, C. J.

Mr. and Mrs. Webb brought this action to recover for damages sustained when their house was destroyed by a fire allegedly caused by the negligence of defendant Standard Oil Company and its agent, Floyd Wim-berly, in installing propane gas cylinders. Two insurance companies, each of which had paid plaintiffs $5,000 in accordance with the terms of fire insurance policies upon the real property destroyed, were joined as parties defendant, and they cross-complained against Standard and Wimberly. Judgment, rendered by the court sitting without a jury, was in favor of plaintiffs in the amount of $30,000 and in favor of the insurance companies in the amount of $5,000 each. Standard and Wimberly appeal, claiming that the evidence is insufficient to support the judgment and that the court erred in failing to order plaintiffs to produce copies of their state and federal income tax returns.

The fire started in a completely enclosed washroom, 9 feet long, which adjoined the kitchen. A gas refrigerator had been set in the wall between the kitchen and the washroom so that its door opened into the kitchen, and the back of the refrigerator extended through the wall into the wash

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room. The apparatus required to operate the refrigerator was located in the washroom and included a cabinet containing two cylinders, a pressure-reducing device called a regulator, and some tubing. An open burner in the refrigerator about 9 inches from the floor constituted a source of ignition for escaping gas.

Sometime between 6 and 8 o’clock on the evening before the fire, Wimberly delivered two Flamo cylinders of propane gas owned by Standard, connected them with the refrigerator, and turned on the gas. The refrigerator had not been in use during the preceding year, and Mrs. Webb asked Wim-berly to check the unit for leakage and told him that when the refrigerator had previously been in use, she could smell escaping gas. She suggested tht he use soap to test the installation, but he said that he did not think this was necessary and instead passed three or four burning matches around the connections. He cleaned the burner of the refrigerator, tested its “lock up” pressure, and lit the gas. Before Wim-berly left, Mrs. Webb asked him to “be sure to check everything again.” He opened the refrigerator door, looked inside and told her that everything was “O.K.” Flamo cylinders are equipped with “soft plugs” which may leak if damaged in handling, but Wimberly did not test these plugs nor did he test the valves or regulator after he lit the burner.