King v. National Oil Co.

81 Mo. App. 155, 1899 Mo. App. LEXIS 375
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 8, 1899
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 81 Mo. App. 155 (King v. National Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
King v. National Oil Co., 81 Mo. App. 155, 1899 Mo. App. LEXIS 375 (Mo. Ct. App. 1899).

Opinions

SMITH, P. J.

Action to recover damages for injuries received by plaintiff in consequence of the negligence of the defendant.

The petition alleges the cause of action in this way: That is to say, that the defendant, a business corporation, was engaged in selling gasoline* and the plaintiff, a wagon maker and repairer, kept a shop in which he carried on his trade as such; defendant sent a gasoline tank wagon to plaintiff’s shop to be repaired and to have a flange riveted on the same; that said gasoline tank wagon was then in a dangerous, improper and unsafe condition to be repaired in this: That said wagon was filled with an accumulation of gasoline gas; that defendant knew that said wagon was in such condition, and had negligently, carelessly and recklessly allowed said wagon to remain in said condition and had failed and neglected to empty or drive out said gas before sending it to be repaired; that this plaintiff had no notice or knowledge of the dangerous condition of said wagon. That while plaintiff was repairing-said wagon in a proper and careful manner, and while he was attempting to put a red-hot rivet through the flange and tank of said wagon, the gas, so negligently allowed to remain in said wagon by defendant, took fire and exploded with terrific force and the flames of said burning gas shot out and burned this plaintiff’s head, hands, arms and face, and inflicted on him serious and grievous injuries.

The defendant’s answer was a general denial. The plaintiff had judgment in the trial court and defendant appealed.

[161]*161The trial court denied a demurrer interposed by defendant to the evidence adduced by plaintiff, and therefore it devolves upon us to determine whether the plaintiff made out a prima facie case entitling him to go to the jury. The questions arising on the demurrer are (1), whether or not the defendant owed .the plaint:ff any duty, and, (2), if so, does the evidence fail to disclose any such breach thereof as entitled the plaintiff to recover indemnity for his injury ?

At the time of'the plaintiff’s injury, it appears that he was engaged in performing a contract previously entered into between the firm of King & Grimes, of which he was a member, and the defendant, for the doing of certain work on one of defendant’s gasoline tank wagons. The firm was engaged in sn independent business and, as such, undertook to do the work specified in their contract, using their own means and methods, without submitting themselves to the control of defendant, in respect to all of its details. The film represented the will of the defendant only as to the result of the work, and not as to the means by which it was accomplished. It was, therefore, an independent contractor with the defendant. Shearm. & Red. on Neg., sec. 164. The relation of the defendant to the firm was not that of master and servant; and therefore there is little to be found in the principles of the law governing that relation to guide us in our present inquiry.

The principle enunciated by the master of the rolls in Heaven v. Pender, 11 Q. B. D. 506, seems to be that, if a reasonable man must see that he did not use care in the circumstances he might cause injury to the person or property of another, a duty arises to use such care. It was said in that case, that whenever on© person -supplies goods, machinery or the like, for the purposes of then being used by another person under such circumstances that every one of ordinary sense, would, if he thought, recognize at once, that, unless he used [162]*162ordinary care and skill with regard to the condition of the thing supplied, or the mode of supplying it, there will be danger of injury to the person or property of him for whose use the thirjg is supplied, ana who is to use it, a duty arises to use ordinary care and skill in the manner of supplying such thing. The plaintiff’s evidence tends to prove that at the time the.defendant sent its wagons to the firm to be repaired, the tanks thereon contained considerable quantities of vaporized gasoline, which, if brought in contact with hot metal or fire, would explode. If the defendant knew of the dangerous con•dition of the tanks at the time it) sent the same to the firm for repairs, then there arose a duty on the part of the defendant to notify the plaintiff of the same so that he might take the proper precautions against the danger of injury incident to making the required repairs thereon.

But, however this may be, it is conceded in the brief of the defendant’s counsel that the legal relation existing between the defendant and the firm was that of bailor and bailee, and that the duty thereby imposed on each of them, in respect to the transaction between them, was that of ordinary care. Assuming then, as we must, that the measure of duty which the defendant owed the firm was that of ordinary care, it becomes next important to inquire, what is ordinary care ?

Any one who puts in the charge of another as carrier, depositary, or otherwise, anything which he knows to be of a dangerous nature, liable to injure other goods by explosion, combustion, leakage or the like, is bound to give the person with whom such things are deposited reasonable notice of the danger; if the thing is an ordinary article of merchandise, the qualities of which are generally known, such as gun-powder, nitroglycerine, etc., a simple disclosure of the name of the article is sufficient notice of its nature, but if the dangerous qualities of the thing are not common to its species, further warning is necessary. Thus, while in shipping a tiger no [163]*163•warning could be required; but if a vicious horse, disposed to kick and bite, then there ought to be a warning given if the shipper had knowledge of its vicious propensities. Sheann. & Fed. on Negligence, sec. 690. Ordinary care must always be determined with reference to the dangers to be reasonablly apprehended. It must depend upon the facts and circumstances of each case. It is often an essential part of that care to guard against such occurrences as persons of ordinary prudence would reasonably anticipate in a given situation. Fuchs v. St. Louis, 133 Mo. 168; Bowen v. Railway, 95 Mo. 268. If the defendant sent its wagon to the shop of the firm for repairs, when it knew that the tanks thereon were charged with vaporized gasoline, then it must have reasonably anticipated the danger of an explosion if, in making such repairs, hot rivets should be used; and especially so since there is some evidence tending to show that the defendant’s superintendent suggested to the firm that in making the repairs that it use hot rivets.

The plaintiff’s evidence tended further to show that the presence of the vaporized gasoline in the tanks could not be discovered by ordinary inspection; that the liquid gasoline had been drawn therefrom; that there was nothing about the physical appearance of the tanks to suggest the presence therein of the vaporized gasoline. In such circumstances, it would seem to be the duty of the defendant to notify the firm of its presence there and the danger to be anticipated in making the repairs in the way it had suggested. A failure to do this would be a neglect of the performance of the duty it owed to the firm. But the evidence of the plaintiff does not tend to show directly or inferentially that the defendant, at the time it sent the tanks to the firm, knew the same contained vaporized gasoline in a quantity sufficient to make it unsafe or dangerous to repair the same with hot rivets. Evidence of this fact was wholly wanting, and for this reason the defendant’s demurrer should have been sustained by the trial court.

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Bluebook (online)
81 Mo. App. 155, 1899 Mo. App. LEXIS 375, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/king-v-national-oil-co-moctapp-1899.