Lee v. Vacuum Oil Co.

7 N.Y.S. 426, 61 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 156, 26 N.Y. St. Rep. 814, 54 Hun 156, 1889 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1099
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 19, 1889
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 7 N.Y.S. 426 (Lee v. Vacuum Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lee v. Vacuum Oil Co., 7 N.Y.S. 426, 61 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 156, 26 N.Y. St. Rep. 814, 54 Hun 156, 1889 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1099 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1889).

Opinion

Barker, P. J.

The defendant is engaged in the manufacture of oils from crude petroleum. In the process there is produced a fluid substance, called “naphtha,” which, at the low temperature of 13 deg. Fahrenheit, gives off vapor, or gas, which is inflammable, and explosive when confined. Its explosive power is estimated to be equal to 140 pounds to the square inch. The defendant’s works are located in the city of Rochester, on or near the bank of the abandoned Genesee canal. ’ The Municipal Gas Company is engaged in the manufacture and distribution for consumption of illuminating gas, consumed in the city of Rochester. Its works are also situated on the banks of said canal, nearly a mile and a half north of the defendant’s works. The latter company use naphtha in the manufacture of gas, consuming each month about 30,000 gallons, and the defendant supplies the same. Each company stores such quantity as it may have on hand in iron tanks. The [427]*427naphtha sold by the defendant to the gas company is transported from its. tanks to the gas company’s tank by pumping it through a three-i nch wrought-iron pipe. The grade on which the pipe is laid is such that naphtha will not flow to the gas company’s receiving tank by force of gravitation. The pipe is laid in the bed of the canal, and passes under Atkinson street and under the Atkinson-Street bridge, which crosses the canal. At that point the pipe is laid within a few feet of the street sewer, which connects witli other sewers, running in a northerly direction, and at some distance, and discharges into-the Genesee river under the building destroyed by the explosion. The sewer passing under the building was open, so that gas could escape into and be distributed through the same. Naphtha was delivered to the gas company, for the purposes mentioned, every two weeks, and from twelve to fifteen thousand gallons at each delivery, taking from three to four hours to pump that quantity through the pipe. During the intervening time the pipe was filled with naphtha, the quantity being about 2,000 gallons. The defendant had acquired the consent of the parties owning the bed of the canal to lay the pipe therein for the uses and purposes for which it was intended. A steam railroad track was also laid along the bed of the canal, and the pipe in question was laid by the side of, and in some places under, the said track. No time will be taken to prove that the business of transporting naphtha by the-means adopted, from and to the place mentioned, and on the line adopted, was a lawful business, for that proposition cannot be reasonably disputed. The means adopted to transport this substance from one point to another is-practically the same as the system in use for distributing illuminating gas, produced from coal, in all cities where it is used, and the danger to lite and property in the aggregate are no greater, if they cannot be said to be less. The legislature has authorized the formation of corporations for “the purpose of constructing and operating, for the public use, lines of pipe, for conveying or transporting therein petroleum, gas, liquids, or any products or property,” and such corporations may lay pipes across and along public streets and highways, and institute proceedings to condemn lands, and acquire the right to. lay and construct lines of pipe when they are unable to negotiate for that privilege with the owner. This law was not enacted for the purpose of making legitimate a business which prior thereto was condemned as unlawful, and contrary to public policy. The chief purpose of this act was to provide-for the creation of corporations, to carry on a lawful business in a manner and by the means whicli theretofore were proper and lawful for any individual or company of persons to do, using due care in the management of the same.

The real question presented is, was the evidence sufficient to sustain the charge imputing negligence to the defendant in the mode and manner of laying the pipe, or in neglecting to inspect the same to see if it remained in a safe and secure condition, or in failing to detect that it was broken and unfit, for use, on the day the accident occurred, in time to have prevented the escape of naphtha in such quantities as to become dangerous to life or property. The pipe was constructed from prime material by an approved process by manufacturers of experience, and had sufficient strength l'or the transportation of naphtha, and was well adapted for that use between the places mentioned, under the pressure applied for pumping, and was well laid and properly covered with earth. It had been in use several years, and there is no-evidence that its original strength had been wasted in any perceptible degree by use. The test which was made after the accident of the section of the-pipe which was broken fully sustains this statement. The last time the pipe was used before the accident was on the 7th day of December, 1887, on which day about 12,000 gallons of naphtha was successfully pumped through the pipe without any indication that the same was not in perfect order. There is no serious claim made by the plaintiff that the pipe was not in good order, and safe for use* [428]*428on that day. The question of the defendant’s negligence is to be determined mainly by what occurred after the day named, in connection with the charge made, that the defendant’s agents and servants in charge of the line failed, by reason of their carelessness and indifference under the circumstances, to discover that the line was broken, so that all the oil pumped was discharged and wasted. On and prior to the said 7th day of December the city was constructing a sewer in Atkinson street, which was intended to connect with the then existing sewer which passed under the bridge which carried Atkinson street over the canal. The contractors constructing the sewer in their operations exposed a section of the pipe for several feet, and in blasting rock a fragment struck the pipe, and bent it at that point, which resulted in breaking or pulling it apart at one of the joints, so as to discharge, near the sewer, all the naphtha that was in, or might be pumped into, the pipe. This occurred on the 8th of December, one day after the pipe was last used for transporting naphtha to the gas company’s tank. The soil at or near where the pipe was broken was such as to permit of a ready flow of naphtha between the broken end of the pipe and the sewer. Each way from the place of fracture the pipe was laid on an ascending grade, so that its contents at once discharged, but it is not claimed that any of the naphtha which was in the pipe, and which must have escaped immediately after the break, caused the explosion. The defendant’s servants made no inspection of the line between the 7th day of December and the day of the accident, whicli was on the 21st day of the same month, for the purpose of ascertaining if it was in good order, and suitable for use, nor had it been its custom to make an inspection for that purpose. On the day of the accident the defendant had an order from the gas company to deliver to it 15,000 gallons of naphtha. Wilson and Sweeny, two of the defendant’s servants, who had charge of the pumps and the pipe line, undertook to make the delivery. As it was customary with them, they agreed upon the precise time when the pumps should be started, which, on this occasion, was 10 minutes past 12 M., and time enough was allowed to permit Sweeny to go from the defendant’s works-to the gas company’s tank, and measure the quantity of naphtha which was then stored therein, and to open the stop-cocks before the time for starting the pumps should arrive, as agreed upon.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
7 N.Y.S. 426, 61 N.Y. Sup. Ct. 156, 26 N.Y. St. Rep. 814, 54 Hun 156, 1889 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1099, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-vacuum-oil-co-nysupct-1889.