Imperial Candy Co. v. City of Seattle

Citations

• 93 Wash. 145
• 160 P. 303
• 1916 Wash. LEXIS 1170

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations — Water Works — Negligence—Evidence —Sufficiency. Negligence of the city is established where a break in a water main, flooding the plaintiff’s premises, was due to the improper use of a cast-iron bushing instead of a metal of greater strength, which broke when, after ten years, the foundation of a heavy meter decayed and cast the weight upon the bushing, and the condition of the foundation could have been readily ascertained by an inspection which the city failed to make.</p> <p>Same — Water Works — Negligence — Damage to Goods — Proximate Cause. Damage to goods in the basement of the building is the natural and probable consequence of the breaking of a three-inch water main leading into the basement, so that negligence leading to the break was the proximate cause of the damage.</p> <p>Same — Water Works — Damage to Goods — Contributory Negligence. In an action for damages to goods stored in a basement through the breaking of a water main, contributory negligence cannot be attributed to the plaintiff, a tenant, from the fact that there was no drain from the basement as required by city ordinance, which did not forbid the use of such a basement by a tenant, and where it was not claimed that the building was so constructed without obtaining a permit.</p>