American Gypsum Co. v. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co.

7 Ohio App. 145, 28 Ohio C.C. Dec. 315, 27 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 481, 27 Ohio C.A. 481, 1917 Ohio App. LEXIS 323
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 27, 1917
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 7 Ohio App. 145 (American Gypsum Co. v. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Gypsum Co. v. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co., 7 Ohio App. 145, 28 Ohio C.C. Dec. 315, 27 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 481, 27 Ohio C.A. 481, 1917 Ohio App. LEXIS 323 (Ohio Ct. App. 1917).

Opinion

Richards, J.

'The American Gypsum Company is engaged in the mining of gypsum, and the preparation, storage and shipment of gypsum products, in Ottawa county, and was defendant in the court of common pleas in an action brought to recover damages for the destruction and injury of certain cars owned by and in the custody of The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Company. These cars, on March 22, 1911, were on a sidetrack extending along and over the property of the Gypsum Company and were on that date damaged by an explosion of dynamite situated in a small shanty called a thaw-house, owned and used by the Gypsum Company.

The trial resulted in a verdict and judgment in favor of the railroad company in the amount of [147]*147$964.67, and to reverse the judgment so rendered this proceeding in error is brought in this court.

The record discloses that in the manufacture of gypsum products the Gypsum Company uses large quantities of dynamite, purchasing the same by the carload containing some 18,000 pounds, and that the explosive so purchased is stored in a magazine on the premises of the company, located approximately 2,000 feet from the thaw-house, which thaw-house is near the track of the railroad company. The storage magazine itself did not explode, but the damage was caused from an explosion in this small structure used for thawing the dynamite. The evidence is not clear as to whether any other structures were in the immediate vicinity of the place where this thaw-house was erected.

The testimony indicates that dynamite freezes at a temperature of 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit and that the practice • of the company was to remove from the magazine to the thaw-house a box of dynamite containing 50 pounds, so that the same might be thawed and made ready for use by the company during the day or night on which it was so removed. The company used in its business two shifts of workmen, and this dynamite had been removed a few hours before the explosion and placed in this building for the purpose indicated. In the morning the practice was to bring in what dynamite was necessary for use during the day shift, and then again in the evening another quantity was brought in sufficient for use by the night-shift. The thaw-house ivas about six by eight feet and approximately six feet in .height. It had galvanized siding, and the roof was made of roof [148]*148boards covered also with galvanized siding. Inside this building was a steam radiator used for the purpose of thawing the dynamite, the steam pipes coming from the boiler house 200 feet distant. In front of the radiator was a wire cloth, extending from the floor to the ceiling, so as to prevent any dynamite coming in contact with the radiator. The practice was, after the dynamite had become sufficiently thawed, for it to be carried away by the shot firers to the mine and there used.

So far as the record discloses the cause of the explosion was unknown, and the vital question arising is whether liability exists on the part of the Gypsum Company under the circumstances stated and in the absence of negligence.

All the dynamite used by the company was shipped in over the tracks and along the siding of the railroad company, and from there hauled to the storehouse, from which it was removed to the thaw-house and from thence to the mine, as needed in the operation of the company’s business.

The trial judge charged the jury, following the lines indicated by the language of the supreme court in Bradford Glycerine Co. v. The St. Marys Woolen Mfg. Co., 60 Ohio St., 560, that “the person who for his own purpose brings on his lands and collects and keeps there anything' likely to do mischief, which includes nitroglycerine or dynamite, if it escapes or explodes, must keep it there at his peril, and when he does so he ís prima facie answerable for all the damage that is the natural result of the explosion.” He further stated to the jury in that connection that the defendant could excuse itself only by showing that the explosion [149]*149was due to the plaintiff’s fault, and that it has used ordinary care in the handling and use of the dangerous matter; or due to an act of God. Of course the latter part of the charge mentioned is clearly wrong in that if it appeared that the explosion was due to plaintiff’s fault the defendant need not in addition show that it used ordinary care in the handling and use of the dynamite.

This criticism, however, does not dispose of the vital question involved in this case, which is, whether the rule of liability for the explosion' of nitroglycerine, announced in the decision of the supreme court to which reference is above made, is applicable to the explosion of dynamite under the facts shown in this record. In the Bradford Glycerine Company case there were at the storage magazine, including the quantity being placed therein, more than 750 quarts of- nitroglycerine, and the building was used, as its ■ name indicates, for a place of storage. In the case now under consideration the explosive is dynamite, the evidence showing the explosive ingredient of which to be nitroglycerine and the strength of the dynamite used by this company only 20 per cent. It further appears that dynamite when carefully and properly prepared is much less liable to explode from accidental causes than is nitroglycerine, which is in a liquid form, while the dynamite is a solid. Furthermore, in this case the amount of the explosive was only 50 pounds or a little over, and if we compute only the weight of the explosive ingredient it would be a little more than 10 pounds; and the evidence introduced tends to- show that the amount of explosive in the thaw-house at any one time [150]*150was only that which would be reasonably sufficient for use in the operation of the mines for a portion of one day and for the reasonable conduct of the defendant’s business. The record discloses that, although the company in the conduct of its business at this place has used over 100 cars of dynamite of 18,000 pounds each, it has never heretofore had an accidental explosion.

• Under these circumstances, and after a painstaking investigation of the authorities, this court is not able to apply to this case a rule that would hold the Gypsum Company liable without evidence showing negligence on its part. The supreme court said in the Bradford Glycerine Company case, already cited, that nitroglycerine was recognized as a constant menace to the property in its vicinity. The evidence in the case we have under consideration would scarcely authorize that conclusion as to dynamite. At any rate it would go no farther than to raise a question for submission to the jury, under proper instructions, as to whether the practices of the company in the thawing and handling of the dynamite were such as to constitute a constant menace to property.

The question was under consideration by the supreme court in Louden v. City of Cincinnati et al., 90 Ohio St., 144, which was a case to recover damages resulting from the use of explosives in blasting. In that case the supreme court, speaking through Donahue, J., use this language at page 149:

“The question presented is whether the owner of property may make use of high explosives on his own premises in the accomplishment of a law[151]*151ful purpose, provided he uses due care, notwithstanding the necessary, natural or probable result thereof is to injure or destroy adjacent property.”

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7 Ohio App. 145, 28 Ohio C.C. Dec. 315, 27 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 481, 27 Ohio C.A. 481, 1917 Ohio App. LEXIS 323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-gypsum-co-v-lake-shore-michigan-southern-railway-co-ohioctapp-1917.