Oil City Fuel Supply Co. v. Boundy

Citations

• 122 Pa. 449
• 15 A. 865
• 1888 Pa. LEXIS 623

Syllabus

<p>1. To render declarations of an agent admissible in evidence against his principal, it must appear; either, (a) that the agent was specially authorized to make them; or, (6) that his powers were such as to make him’ the general representative of his principal, having management of the entire business; or, (c) that the admissions were part of the consideration of a contract; or, (d) if they were non-contractual, that they were part of the res gest®.</p> <p>2. In an action against a natural gas company to recover for injuries suffered from an explosion charged to have been caused by the negligence of the defendant, the declarations of a manager of the line, relating to the alleged negligent act, but not coming within either of the-provisions of the above rule, are inadmissible against the defendant.</p> <p>3. As any degree of negligence on the part of the plaintiff, contributing to the injury, will destroy his right to recover in such an action, it is. error to charge the jury that “if the plaintiff’s negligence contributed essentially — or materially — to the injury, it is obvious that it did not occur by reason of the defendant’s negligence.”</p> <p>4. It is not error, in such an action to charge, that the plaintiff, in using gas from the defendant’s high-pressure line, assumed only the usual and ordinary risks of such use, and not those risks which became extraordinary through tire negligence of the defendant.</p>