Soles v. People's Natural Gas Co.

Citations

• 48 Pa. Super. 84
• 1911 Pa. Super. LEXIS 342

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Gas companies — Explosion of gas — Contributory negligence.</p> <p>1. Where a gas company turns on gas in a house in response to an application from the property owner or his tenant, the company may fairly regard such an application as an affirmative assertion by the owner that the interior system of pipes, constructed and maintained by the owner, is sufficiently secure to permit the gas to be introduced with safety.</p> <p>2. In such a case where the gas company has no control over the pipes nor is in any way responsible for their condition, and it turns on the gas by the direction of the property owner or his tenant, and then discovers the existence of a leak, it performs its full duty if it immediately shuts off the gas and gives notice to the owner or his tenant. If an explosion results afterwards from the gas that had escaped, the company will not be liable for the loss.</p>