Stewart v. DeNoon

Citations

• 220 Pa. 154
• 69 A. 587
• 1908 Pa. LEXIS 740

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Pleading—Statement of claim, — Evidence—Explosion— Fire.</p> <p>In an action of trespass to recover damages for the burning and loss of a stock of goods where it appears that the plaintiffs and defendants occupied adjoining parts of a building, and the plaintiffs’ statement of claim charges that the loss resulted from an explosion due to the defendants’ negligence in maintaining a fire in their furnace under a boiler in close proximity to certain inflammable and explosive materials, the defendants are not called upon to prove anything, if it appears from the plaintiffs’ own case that the fire had not resulted from the explosion, but that the explosion had followed the fire by at least half an hour.</p> <p>In such a case, even if the plaintiffs .had amended their statement, they could not recover, if the evidence shows that the fire originated in a part of the cellar remote from the inflammable goods, and there is nothing in the evidence to show the origin of the fire.</p>