22 N.Y.S. 958 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1893
This action was to recover damages for the alleged negligence of the defendant in burning plaintiff’s barn and hotel, and their contents, situated at Scio Station, Allegany county.
The defendant called a number of witnesses whose evidence tended to show that the engine was equipped with a well-known and approved appliance for regulating the flow and preventing the dis- • charge of sparks of improper dimensions. The meshes of the netting of the spark arrester were square, and scant three sixteenths of an inch in size. A number of defendant’s employes, whose duty "it was to inspect the spark arresters of its engines, testified that
The barn and hotel were constructed of wood. The barn was a large one, and at the time of the fire full of combustible material. The distance between the two buildings was only 39 feet. The barn burned first, and the testimony tendéd to show that the flames from the burning barn extended to the hotel, and set it on fire. The jury was justified in finding that the burning of the bam was the proximate and natural cause of the burning of the hotel. “Proximate cause” is defined (16 Amer. & Eng. Enc. Law, p. 436) as “that cause which, in natural and continuous sequence, unbroken, by any efficient intervening cause, produced the result complained of, and without which that result would not have occurred.”
Elmer A. Chase, a witness called by the plaintiff, was allowed, against the objection of the defendant, to give his opinion that if this engine had been equipped with a properly constructed spark arrester, properly placed in the engine, it could not have emitted sparks of the size this engine did. He had testified that he had worked upon a locomotive engine for 12 years,—6 years as a fireman, and-6 years as an engineer; that he was familiar with all of the parts of - a locomotive engine, including the spark arrester. His experience must have made him very familiar with all the parts, and the operation, of engines. The jury, presumably, were not acquainted with the mechanism and operation of locomotive engines. It was, we think, proper to allow Chase to give his opinion as an expert. The question of the suitableness of the spark arrester, under the evidence, was properly left to the determination of the jury. The evidence shown. 5 that the engine was properly constructed consisted of the opinions of expert witnesses. They were the employes of the defendant. Such evidence cannot be held to be conclusive. Cornish v. Insurance Co., 74 N. Y. 295.