132 Ga. 387 | Ga. | 1909
(After stating the facts.) The great weight of authority is to the effect that a resident of a city can not recover of a waterworks company damages for loss by fire occasioned by the failure of such company to furnish, in accordance with its contract with the city, a sufficient supply of water to extinguish the fire. Fowler v. Athens City Waterworks Co., 83 Ga. 219 (9 S. E. 673, 20 Am. R. 313); Nickerson v. Bridgeport Hydraulic Co., 46 Conn. 24 (33 Am. St. R. 1); Atkinson v. Newcastle and Gateshead Water Works Co., L. R. A. 2 Ex. D. 441; Foster v. Lookout Water Co., 3 Lea (Tenn.), 42; Davis v. Clinton Water Works Co., 54 Iowa, 59 (6 N. W. 126, 37 Am. R. 185); Ferris v. Carson Water Co., 16 Nev. 44 (40 Am. R. 485); Beck v. Kitanning Water Co., 8 Sadler (Pa.), 237 (11 Atl. 300); Mott v. Cherryvale Water Co., 48 Kans. 12 (28 Pac. 989, 15 L. R. A. 375, 30 Am. St. R. 267); Howsman v. Trenton Water Co., 119 Mo. 304 (24 S. W. 784, 23 L. R. A. 146, 41 Am. St. R. 654); Eaton v. Fairbury Water Works Co., 37 Neb. 546 (56 N. W. 201, 21 L. R. A. 653, 40 Am. St. R. 510); Fitch v. Seymour Water Co., 139 Ind. 214 (37 N. E. 982, 47 Am. St. R. 258); Wainwright v. Queens Water Co., 78 Hun, 146 (28 N. Y. Supp. 987); Bush v. Artesian etc. Water Co., 4 Idaho, 618 (43 Pac. 69, 95 Am. St. R. 161); Akron Water Works Co. v. Brownlees, 10 Ohio Cir. Ct. R. 620; Stone v. Uniontown Water Co., 4 Pa. Dist. R. 431; House v. Houston Water Works Co., 88 Tex. 233 (31 S. W. 179, 28 L. R. A. 532); Boston Safe Dept. &c. Co. v. Salem Water Co., 94 Fed. 238; Wilkinson v. Light, Heat, and Water Co., 78 Miss. 389 (28 So. 877); Britton v. Green Bay Water Works Co., 81 Wis. 48 (51 N. W. 84, 29 Am. St. R. 856); Nichol v. Huntington Water Co., 53 W. Va. 348 (44 S. E. 290); Town of Ukiah v. Ukiah Water etc. Co., 142 Cal. 173 (75 Pac. 773, 64 L. R. A. 231, 100 Am. St. R. 107); Allen & Cunry Mfg. Co. v. Shreveport Water Co., 113 La. 1091 (37 So. 980, 68 L. R. A. 650, 104 Am. St. R. 525); Metropolitan Trust
The reason for the doctrine is given in most if not all of these cases. This doctrine has not been adhered to in Kentucky, North Carolina, and Florida. Paducah Lumber Co. v. Paducah Water Supply Co., 89 Ky. 340 (12 S. W. 554, 13 S. W. 249, 7 L. R. A. 77, 25 Am. St. R. 536); Gorrell v. Water Supply Co., 124 N. C. 328 (32 S. E. 720, 46 L. R. A. 513, 70 Am. St. R. 598); Mugge v. Tampa Water Works Co., 52 Fla. 371 (42 So. 81, 6 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1171, 120 Am. St. R. 207). The Kentucky and North Carolina cases have been criticised in many of the cases wherein the doctrine above announced has been recognized and applied; and the reasoning in the Mugge ease and that.of the majority of the court in Guardian Trust Co. v. Fisher, 200 U. S. 57 (26 Sup. Ct. 186, 50 L. ed. 367), which seems to have been followed in Mugge’s case, is criticised in the editorial note on the last-mentioned case in 6 L. E. A. (N. S.) 1171. There is nothing new to be added on the subject, and it would be supererogatory to set forth the reasons given by the various courts in sustaining the doctrine and of those repudiating it. Moreover, the question certified must, in our opinion, be solved by following a former decision of this court. In Fowler v. Athens City Water-Works Co., supra, it was held: “Against a water company which is under a contract obligation with the municipal government (but no legal duty otherwise) to furnish a supply of water for use by the municipality in extinguishing fires, a citizen and taxpayer whose property has been consumed by reason of a breach of such contract obligation has no right of action, there being no privity of contract between the citizen and the water company, and mere breach (by omission only) of a contract entered into with the
The plaintiff in error relies upon Freeman v. Macon Gas Light & Water Co., 126 Ga. 843 (56 S. E. 61, 7 L. R. A. (N. S.) 917). It was there held: “When a private corporation, in the exercise of a franchise granted by a municipality, pursuant to a statute which confers upon it the right to use the streets of the city on condition that it will therein lay its mains and furnish the municipality and its inhabitants with a supply of water at fixed tolls, engages in the business of supplying the general, public with water, it becomes liable as a public-service corporation for its wrongful