Toohey v. Equitable Gas Co.

Citations

• 179 Pa. 437
• 36 A. 314
• 1897 Pa. LEXIS 662

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Bisks of employment — Injury to servant — Suitable appliances — Explosion of natural gas.</p> <p>Where it is the duty of a field superintendent of a natural gas company to supervise the testing of wells, he cannot recover from the company for injuries caused by the explosion of a valve on a fitting which he himself selected from the company’s stock and adjusted for the test.</p> <p>In an action by a field superintendent of a natural gas company to recover damages for personal injuries caused by an explosion óf gas, it appeared that one of the duties of the plaintiff was to shut in and test gas wells. The company provided a stock of suitable fittings from which the plaintiff could select such as were needed in any given case. Before the well which exploded was tested plaintiff, without conference with or advice from any officer of the company, selected an eight inch valve, and caused it to be placed in the well. Among the stock of valves was a ten inch valve which plaintiff could have selected. After the valve had been putin place, the president of the company in answer to a question of plaintiff stated that these valves were supposed to be good for over a thousand pounds. The explosion occurred at a pressure of from six hundred and fifty to seven hundred and twenty pounds. Two out of three valves subsequently tested withstood a pressure of one thousand pounds, and the third of nearly one thousand pounds. Held, (1) that the evidence was insufficient to show that the company was guilty of negligence; (2) that the danger involved was one of the risks of plaintiff’s employment; (3) that the opinion expressed by the president was immaterial; (4) that whether the explosion was caused by the lightness of the fitting, or by such a concealed defect in the valve as reasonable care could not detect, the defendant was not liable; (5) that a verdict and judgment for plaintiff could not be sustained.</p>