Sedalia Gaslight Co. v. Mercer

48 Mo. App. 644, 1892 Mo. App. LEXIS 158
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 4, 1892
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 48 Mo. App. 644 (Sedalia Gaslight Co. v. Mercer) 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
Sedalia Gaslight Co. v. Mercer, 48 Mo. App. 644, 1892 Mo. App. LEXIS 158 (Mo. Ct. App. 1892).

Opinion

Smith, P. J.

The city of. Sedalia, which is organized as a city of the third class under the general statutes, adopted an ordinance establishing a general sewer system for the city and providing for the construction of a public sewer. Among others of the terms and specifications imposed under the city ordinance it was provided that the contractor should be required “to sling, shore up and secure in other places all water and gas pipes in such a manner as to secure them from injury.” Under the section in relation to drainage and penalties it provided that the contractor should be liable for all injuries to water and gas pipes and other structures met with in the prosecution of the work, and should be liable for damage to public and private property resulting therefrom, and that the contractor should assume all responsibility for loss and damage or injury to persons and property arising out of the nature of the work, from the action of the elements or from unseen or unusual difficulties. The defendant was awarded the contract for the building of this sewer, and did construct it under the terms of this ordinance from the place of beginning to Lamine and Third streets in said city. Plaintiff was a gas company, and long prior to the passage of this ordinance had laid its mains and service pipes upon the streets in which this sewer was built by virtue of an ordinance conferring upon it that right and privilege.

[648]*648The plaintiff’s petition alleged, and the defendant’s answer denied, that “ in and about the prosecution ,of said work by defendant, under the terms of said ordinance, there occurred interference, interruption with, and damage was occasioned to the plaintiff in its said main- and service pipes, in that, in excavating for said work, both the main pipes along the line of said sewer were misplaced and broken, and many of said service.pipes in like manner broken and injured; that said defendant, and his employes, in and about said work, so carelessly and negligently performed the same, that said pipes were misplaced and broken, and that defendant failed to “sling and shore up and secure” said pipes in their places so as to protect them in the manner provided and required in said ordinance, and the said defendants did not, in the matters aforesaid,. do and perform said work in a substantial and workmanlike manner as required as aforesaid. Plaintiff further avers that both in excavating the soil adjacent to, and around, said main and service pipes and in replacing the excavated earth around the same, the defendant was so careless and negligent as to break, injure and damage said pipes in many places; that, by reason of the acts as aforesaid, the plaintiff was greatly damaged in replacing, restoring and protecting said broken and damaged mains and service pipes, and in putting the same in as good condition as they were before being interfered with by the defendant, and that also, by reason of the acts of the defendant aforesaid, there was great waste and loss of illuminating gas escaping from said damaged and broken main and service pipes,” etc. The plaintiff introduced evidence tending to show the negligence in its petition alleged.

The plaintiff asked and the court refused to declare the law of the case in its behalf to be as follows: “The court instructs the jury that if you believe from the evidence that the defendant constructed the sewer in question, under the ordinance of June 14,' 1887, read in [649]*649■evidence, then, in undertaking to build the sewer under the terms and provisions of the said ordinance, the defendant became responsible to the plaintiff for all loss or damage and injury occurring to its service pipes or gas mains by reason of the construction of said sewer, either arising out of the nature of the work, from the action of the elements, or from unusual or unforeseen ■difficulties encountered in the progress of the work, and, if the jury believe from the evidence that damage was done such service pipes or gas mains in the construction •of the sewer as aforesaid, not attributable to the fault or neglect of the plaintiff, your verdict and finding must be for the plaintiff. The court instructs the jury that the. plaintiff having received .from the city the right to lay its gas mains and pipes in the city of Sedalia, and having so laid them and occupied portions of. the street therewith, it was entitled to the uninterrupted and undisturbed occupancy of the places where the said pip*; s and mains were extended and laid at the time of ■the construction of the sewer, and, if you find said pipes and mains were disturbed, injured or broken by the defendant in the construction of said sewer, and the plaintiff suffered damage thereby, and such damage was not occasioned by any wrongful act or neglect of "the plaintiff, your verdict and finding must be for the plaintiff.”

The defendant’s instruction informed the jury that, unless they found from the evidence that the injuries of which the plaintiff in its petition complains were occa-sioned by the negligence of the defendant, that'plaintiff was not entitled to recover. The finding of the jury was for the defendant. The judgment was for defendant, from which plaintiff has appealed.

The plaintiff by its appeal has drawn in question the propriety of the action of the trial court in refusing the instruction requested by it. Can the plaintiff’s •appeal be sustained? As it is our conviction that it ■cannot, we shall proceed to state as briefly as we can [650]*650the reasons supporting that conviction. The petition counts upon the defendant’s negligence. That is the-sole and only ground upon which a recovery is therein sought. It is true other facts are stated, but only by way of inducement. The issue distinctly made by the-pleadings is that of negligence, whether the injuries complained of were occasioned by the negligence of the-defendant in the performance of the sewer contract. The plaintiff’s ref used, instructions do not embrace in their hypotheses of fact the element of negligence. This element is therein wholly ignored. The theory of' liability they present is not that stated in the petition. The rule has been long and well settled in this state that an instruction which authorizes the jury to find a verdict on a cause of action not stated in the petition is improper. Bonitz v. Benton, 35 Mo. App. 559; Ely v. Railroad, 77 Mo. 34; Price v. Railroad, 72 Mo. 414; Edens v. Railroad, 72 Mo. 212; Bullene v. Smith, 73 Mo. 151; Buffington v. Railroad, 64 Mo. 246. A party cannot sue on one cause of action and recover on another. Jones v. Loomis, 19 Mo. App. 234; Clements v. Yeates, 69 Mo. 623; Link v. Vaughn, 17 Mo. 585.

In this view of the case the question mostly discussed in the brief of counsel, whether or not it was-within the chartered powers of the city to incorporate in its ordinance establishing a general sewer system and providing for the construction thereof provision of indemnity for the individual benefit of third parties, does not arise in the case. But, however this may be, in view of the importance of the question just stated, we deem it our duty to express an opinion in reference to it. Its solxxtion is dependent upon the construction to be placed on section 1541, Revised Statutes, which is as follows :■ ‘ ‘ Public sewers shall be established along the principal courses of drainage, at such times, to such extent, of such dimensions, and under such regxxlation as may be provided by ordinance, and these may be extensions or branches of sewers already constructed or entirely new [651]

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

Related

Jacquin v. Grand Avenue Cable Co.
57 Mo. App. 320 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1894)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
48 Mo. App. 644, 1892 Mo. App. LEXIS 158, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sedalia-gaslight-co-v-mercer-moctapp-1892.