Holmberg v. Jacobs

150 P. 284, 77 Or. 246, 1915 Ore. LEXIS 108
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 20, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 150 P. 284 (Holmberg v. Jacobs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holmberg v. Jacobs, 150 P. 284, 77 Or. 246, 1915 Ore. LEXIS 108 (Or. 1915).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Burnett

delivered the opinion of the court.

The sole question presented for our consideration is whether the court erred in refusing the motion for a nonsuit. The only evidence about how the accident happened is that of the plaintiff herself. She testifies that she began her work for the defendant on July 11th. She says:

“I got there in the morning and prepared one meal, luncheon, discovered the stove, what is in a bad condition, didn’t do the work, didn’t cook or bake. After the meal was over, goes to Mrs. Jacobs, tells her, ‘There is something the matter with the stove; it do not work satisfactory’; and she says to me, ‘I have sent for the man already to come and attend to it. ’ The man came later.”

She states he came and examined the stove that day; returned the third day and put in new burners. Speak[249]*249ing of the condition of the stove before the repairs were made, she said, in substance, that the pipes and burners of the stove were rusty, dirty and corroded; that the burners appeared to be clogged, as well as rusty and corroded. She says the repair man put in the new burners about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, but she gives no account whatever of their condition, whether good or had. She did not use the stove after that until about 6 o’clock in the evening of the same day. Concerning the accident, she states:

“The dinner was prepared. I was going to bake the rolls. I went to make dessert at half-past 6, lit the oven for to get my oven hot.
“Q. At what time?
“A. At 6 o’clock; let it burn there for 10 minutes or 20 minutes, opened the oven door to see if the oven was warm enough to receive my biscuits. It wasn’t. I closed the door, let it stay there for some minutes longer, opened the door again, and still it was not warm.
“Q. That is twice.
“A. And then in a few minutes I put my biscuits in. They were there for 7 minutes. I opened the oven door, and a terrible explosion and the flames leaped around . me. ’ ’

She stated there were two burners under the oven, and, in several places in her testimony, insisted that they were both lighted. On cross-examination she was asked:

“How many years’ experience have you had with a gas stove?
“A. For the last 20 years.
“Q. You say this stove was in a very bad condition when you looked at it; you say it was rusty?
“A. I was there for one meal when I reported the ill condition of the stove.
“Q. To whom did you report the ill condition?
“A. To Mrs. Jacobs.
[250]*250‘ ‘Q. And what did you tell her?
“A. This stove will not stew or bake satisfactory and something had to be done to it.
‘‘ Q. Did you tell her anything else at that time?
“A. No.”

In another part of her cross-examination she was asked:

“Just tell the jury how you lit the oven (these burners) at the time this accident happened.
“A. The oven was lit and had been burning for 20 minutes before the accident happened.
“Q. It was burning?
“A. For 20 minutes before the accident.
“Q. Are you sure it was 20 minutes?
“A. Yes, because I watched the clock.”

In answer to a question by a juror, she said:

“Wait a minute. It burned for 10 minutes, and I opened the oven door to find out if my oven was warm enough to put in my rolls, and it was not warm enough to put in my rolls, so I closed the oven door and waited for the heat to increase, and I opened the oven door, and still it wasn’t quite warm enough, and I closed it again, and I opened it again and put in my rolls, and the rolls were in for 7 minutes, and then I opened the door, and that is when the explosion happened so I got this terrible burn. ’ ’

The negligence charged upon the defendant is:

“That this defendant carelessly and negligently allowed the said stove to become in a defective, dilapidated and dangerous condition, and the burners, flues and gas-pipes in the said stove to become so burned, rusted and corroded that gas would escape and accumulate in the said stove, making the same dangerous and unsafe when any person should attempt to light and operate the said stove. ’ ’

A fair construction of this allegation is that the stove was in such a dilapidated condition that, although the flames used in cooking were extinguished, [251]*251the gas continued to escape into the oven, so that, on lighting it again, the accumulated volume of gas would be immediately exploded. In other words, the substance of the charge of negligence is that the stove was in such a state that the mere attempt to light it would at once set off an explosion and not that the blast would occur after the gas had been burning for some time. On the hypothesis that the stove leaked, the testimony given by the plaintiff shows the gas must have been gathering in the oven for 3 hours, or from the time the new burners were installed at 3 o’clock until she lighted the oven at 6 o’clock; and further, if her testimony is true, the explosion would ■have occurred the instant the match was applied; but, as a matter of fact, as she states, both burners had been lighted at least 20 minutes before the blast went off. There is no evidence to show any smell of escaping gas prior to lighting the oven. Neither is there anything to disclose that there was any way for it to escape into the oven, except through the pilot light and the two burners which had been put in only 3 hours before. There is nothing showing that there were any pipes in the oven, and the record is utterly silent as to whether there was any defect in the new burners in use when the accident is said to have occurred.

2. The averment of negligence must be proven as laid, according to the familiar rule that the testimony must correspond with the allegations of the complaint: Knahtla v. Oregon Short Line Ry. Co., 21 Or. 136 (27 Pac. 91). The charge of negligence and the narration of the mishap do not correspond with each other. The mere occurrence of the injury furnishes no cause of action. Under the rule of the evidence corresponding with the allegations, it is incumbent upon the [252]*252plaintiff, not only to establish the happening of the accident as stated, bnt also that it happened on account of the negligence alleged in the complaint. Although she testified that the pipes were rusty and corroded, the plaintiff did not show in any way that rust or corrosion was inflammable or that they would cause a sudden detonation of the fuel vapor.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Harpole v. Paeschke Farms, Inc.
518 P.2d 1023 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1974)
Keith v. United Cities Gas Company
146 S.E.2d 7 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1966)
Peterson v. Schlottman
392 P.2d 262 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1964)
Ritter v. BEALS
358 P.2d 1080 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1961)
Lane v. STEWART ET UX
351 P.2d 73 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1960)
Great American Insurance Co. v. Modern Gas Co.
101 S.E.2d 389 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1958)
Schweiger v. Solbeck
230 P.2d 195 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1951)
Graham v. North Carolina Butane Gas Co.
58 S.E.2d 757 (Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1950)
Leavitt v. Stamp
293 P. 414 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1930)
Schairer v. Johnson
272 P. 1027 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1929)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
150 P. 284, 77 Or. 246, 1915 Ore. LEXIS 108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holmberg-v-jacobs-or-1915.