Derry Coal & Coke Co. v. Kerbaugh

Citations

• 222 Pa. 448
• 71 A. 915
• 1909 Pa. LEXIS 894

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Explosion of dynamite — Dynamite—Degree of care — Evidence.</p> <p>While the possession of dynamite to be used for lawful purposes is neither unlawful nor negligent, the person in possession of it is, as to third parties, bound to the highest degree of care, and failure to take any reasonable precaution to prevent explosion of it while in storage is negligence.</p> <p>In an action to recover damages for injuries to houses caused by the explosion of dynamite, the case is for the jury and a verdict and judgment for plaintiff will be sustained, where the evidence shows that the dynamite was stored in a small building fifteen feet square and seven feet high, that there was a red hot stove in the building within a few inches of the dynamite, that explosive caps were on the floor, and that such a storage of dynamite was unsafe and involved a condition from which an explosion might result.</p>