213 Pa. 367 | Pa. | 1906
Opinion by
The plaintiff was injured by an explosion that occurred in the pipe line of the defendant company, at a point where he and others of the company’s workmen were engaged in the work of repairing, under these circumstances;
At the time the work was being done there was no interruption in the use of the line; the distribution of gas through the line continued at a pressure of about 225 pounds to the square inch, although by the use of safety valves and gates, which were placed along the line at intervals of three miles, the gas could have been wholly shut off or its flow regulated, at the pleasure of the defendant company, not, however, without serious inconvenience to the consumers who depended on the line for a regular and constant supply. The explosion occurred at the end of the pipe where the leak was discovered to be, breaking out a piece of pipe varying in width from six to ten inches, and extending back from the mouth some three feet. From the opening thus made the gas escaped against the earth about the pipe, and with great violence threw such material as was in' its way against the plaintiff, inflicting upon him serious bodily injury.
This action was brought to recover for the injury thus sustained, and the negligence charged as the basis of the action. was the failure of defendant company to arrest or sufficiently moderate the flow of gas from the line while the plaintiff and his fellow workmen were there engaged.
As will be seen, plaintiff’s case rested wholly upon the inference of defendant’s negligence, no direct evidence of negligence having been adduced. The theory advanced by defendant to account for the explosion was that it occurred in consequence of a latent defect in the pipe.. The question raised on the appeal, and the only question is, was the evi-' dence of defendant’s, negligence sufficient to require a submission to the jury?
The rule in such cases is thus stated by the present Chief Justice, in Zahniser v. Penna. Torpedo Co., 190 Pa. 350 : “ In cases where the duty is not absolute .... it is essential that it shall appear that the transaction in which the accident occurred was in the exclusive management of the defendant, and all the elements of the occurrence within his control, and that the result was so far out of the usual course that there is no fair inference that it could have been produced by any other cause than negligence. If there is any other cause apparent to which the injury may with equal fairness be attributed, the inference of negligence cannot be drawn.”
In the present case we have two apparent causes suggested, the one giving rise to the inference of negligence, the other negativing it. Can the explosion be attributed with equal fairness to either ? If so, it was error in the court to permit the jury to draw an inference of negligence as against defendant. A very brief reference to the facts will show how unequal in force these opposing suggestions are. That of the plaintiff suggests neither difficulty in connection with the occurrence itself nor improbability. The ordinary mind would meet with no surprise in discovering a fracture at the end of the section of pipe where, as in this case, a line three feet underground had been subjected to an external force sufficient to push it from its place and open up a joint through which gas escaped. If otherwise, it is rather remarkable that no effort was made to show that such a result is not, under such circumstances, to be
Can it be said in view of the facts stated and the entire consistency of plaintiff’s theory therewith, that the explosion that injured the plaintiff can, with equal reason and fairness, be attributed to a latent defect in the pipe ? To ask the question is to answer it. As was said in Shafer v. Lacock, 168 Pa. 497, a case where the actual cause of the accident was not clearly disclosed by the testimony, but circumstances were shown warranting an inference of negligence on the part of defendant, “ the occurrence was not in the ordinary course of things, and the circumstances connected with and surrounding it put on them (the defendants)- the duty of showing that it was at least consistent with the exercise of proper care in the performance of their work.”
This duty in the present case called for something more than a theory that was simply conjectural as to the cause of the explosion. Clearly-this was a case where the circumstances connected with the happening of the accident were sufficient to warrant an inference of negligence, and that being so, submission of the question to the jury followed necessarily.
The judgment is affirmed.