Wright v. Pacific Coast Oil Co.

Citations

• 6 Cal. Unrep. 84
• 53 P. 1086
• 1898 Cal. LEXIS 1061

Syllabus

<p>Employer’s Liability.—Plaintiff had Been for Seven Years to Charge of stills for distilling petroleum, and inspected the bottoms, and notified defendant, the owner, when they were to be replaced. The life of a bottom was about five and a half months, and at the end of four months he would begin inspections, making them after every run. He knew the danger of the bottoms giving way, and whether they had been regularly inspected. A crack being discovered in a bottom, plaintiff and the superintendent knelt down and looked at it, neither thinking of any danger. At the superintendent’s suggestion, plaintiff then proceeded to remove a burner to prevent the oil in it being caked, and while standing in front of the still the bottom gave way, and a quantity of asphaltum ran out, burning plaintiff. Held, that the injury was caused by an unforeseen accident, resulting from the inevitable impairment of the still, of which plaintiff had equal means of knowing with defendant, and he could not recover.</p>