71 N.Y.S. 942 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1901
Siphons of seltzer water, like the one that exploded, are in common use, and have been manufactured and sold in this citv and elsewhere for many years. They are certainly in as common use as steam boilers and gas, and an explosion of a steam boiler or of gas does not necessarily create an inference of negligence sufficient to fix liability on the defendant. The plaintiff, even in such cases, must go further, and prove affirmatively the existence of' some defect in construction, or condition of the thing which contains the gas or. steam of which the defendants were cognizant, or which they ought to have known by the exercise of proper care in the premises. There is no evidence in this case that the bottle, which was not manufactured but filled by the defendants, was not properly constructed, or that it was constructed differently from bottles in which seltzer water is usually sold. Nor is there any evidence that the manner of putting the water in was different from the method in common use, or that the
Complaint dismissed.