Cochran v. Philadelphia & Reading Terminal Railroad

Citations

• 184 Pa. 565
• 39 A. 296
• 1898 Pa. LEXIS 938

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Proximate cause — Contributory negligence—Demurrer— Pleading— Sufficiency of petition.</p> <p>In an action against a railroad company, the statement averred that •plaintiffs owned a mill occupied by tenants; that defendant procured the passage of an ordinance to change the grade of the street in front of the mill, provided defendant should be liable for damages therefrom; that the work was done by defendant in March and April, 1892, in the course of which it covered the stopcock to the gas main with some six feet of earth; that on December 1, 1893, a fire occurred in the cellar of the mill which could have been extinguished before the mill and its contents were totally destroyed but for the fact that the heat melted the gas pipe at the meter, and permitted the gas to flow in; that an effort was immediately made to turn it off, hut it was then first discovered that the stopcock had been covered, and could not be located; and that the flames fed by the gas became uncontrollable, and the mill and contents were totally destroyed. Defendant demurred to the statement. Held, (1) that plaintiffs were guilty of contributory negligence in allowing the stopcock to remain ■covered up for a year and a hall'; (2) that the covering of the stopcock was entirely too remote and speculative to form the basis of a cause of action ; (3) that the mere emission of gas from the broken pipe without the intervention of another agency would not have caused the fire; (4) that judgment for defendant on the demurrer was properly entered.</p>