Taylor v. Baldwin

Paterson, J. The defendant constructed gas-works in the city of San Francisco, and laid pipes therefrom to [520]his hotel, theater, and market, to supply the same with gas. Everything worked well for a few weeks, but gradually the flow of gas decreased, and at the end of two months it had almost entirely ceased. It was thought that the pressure was not sufficient, and plaintiff, who was superintendent of the works, acting upon the suggestions of others, was attempting to increase the pressure by taking the weights out of the buckets attached to the gasometer, when the latter tilted up on one side, allowing the gas confined within it to escape. The escaping gas as soon as it reached the furnace ignited, and communicating with that in the gasometer, the whole exploded with great force and violence, throwing the defendant out of the building, and across the street against the fence, burning his hands, face, neck, and other portions of his body in the most deplorable manner.

Plaintiff seeks in this action to recover damages in the sum of ten thousand dollars for the injuries sustained by him, alleging that in consequence of the explosion he was disabled from attending to any business for about nine weeks; that his hands and face have been permanently scarred and disfigured, the joints of his fingers permanently stiffened, and that his nerves have become permanently weakened in consequence of the shock.

The gravamen of the complaint is, that the defendant carelessly and negligently constructed and maintained the gas-works; that he negligently permitted a gunnysack to remain in one of the gas pipes leading to the hotel, causing a stoppage of the flow of gas, and a consequent resistance against the gasometer, resulting in the explosion. It is also claimed in the complaint that the gasometer was not properly weighted, ballasted, or supported by timbers.

It is established by the evidence, beyond all controversy, that the accident was caused by taking the weights, out of the bucket, thus removing the balance' from th© [521]receiver, and permitting it to tip over. There is no evidence whatever to the contrary. One of the witnesses said: “The sack in the pipe would have no effect at all upon the holder; if you were to put a valve on the pipe and shut the gas off absolutely, it would have no effect upon the holder. There is no such thing as a back pressure on the holder.....You cannot press anything back into the pipes and raise the holder. There “ is no back pressure to the gasometer, whether the pipe is stopped or whether it is open. It does not make any difference in the pressure of the gas.....If the outlet pipe is stopped, and the gas continues flowing into the receiver, it rises.....The fact that the gas receiver tipped up at the side where the outlet pipe is, was not the cause of any reaction from the outlet pipe. It is a matter of physical impossibility for the gas to come back through the outlet pipe.” This evidence is nowhere contradicted.