Waters Pierce Oil Co. v. Davis

60 S.W. 453, 24 Tex. Civ. App. 508, 1900 Tex. App. LEXIS 229
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 30, 1900
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 60 S.W. 453 (Waters Pierce Oil Co. v. Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waters Pierce Oil Co. v. Davis, 60 S.W. 453, 24 Tex. Civ. App. 508, 1900 Tex. App. LEXIS 229 (Tex. Ct. App. 1900).

Opinion

B00KH0UT, Associate Justice.

This is a suit by W. C. Davis and wife against the Waters Pierce Oil Company for damages resulting to plaintiffs by reason of the death of their minor son, George Davis, the alleged negligence of defendants being the cause of his death. A trial by jury resulted in a verdict of $158 for expenses of last sickness, etc., and the further sum of $1039.50 for damages resulting from the death, etc., which last sum by the verdict was equally apportioned between the two plaintiffs. . The defendant appeals.

Conclusions of Fact.—The Waters Pierce Oil Company, during the years 1895 and 1896, was a corporation duly incorporated under the laws of the State of Missouri and having its principal office in St. Louis, in said State. It was engaged in the manufacture and sale of certain products of petroleum oil, including kerosene, benzine, gasoline, etc. It did business in Texas, and one William Grice was its manager, representing it through north and middle Texas. It had an agent by the name of E. 0. Pierson residing at Ennis, Texas, to sell its products at said city of Ennis.

In the spring and summer of 1896, E. E. Collins and his wife, Jennie Collins, were the proprietors of and operating a steam laundry in the city of Ennis, Texas, and had in their employ one Earnest Eeid as foreman in said business, and one George Davis, a boy of 16 years of age, as their engineer. On the 15th day of June, 1896, the said Waters Pierce Oil Company, by its agent, Pierson, sold to said Collins and wife a drum of 87-degree gasoline, said-drum holding about 110 gallons, which drum was placed under a shed in the rear of the yard where said laundry business was being conducted, and about thirty feet from the furnace. This was the second drum purchased by Collins and wife, the first purchase having been made about the 1st of May of that year. When the first drum was received, defendant’s agent Pierson was present and assisted in unloading same from the float, and advised Collins where to locate the same, and the same was located'in the shed under his directions. He at the'time informed Collins and his wife that it would be safe there. The gasoline was drawn from the drum in five-gallon cans once or twice a day and taken to the house for use. It was used to heat the ironing *510 machinery of the laundry. It was put in a generator located outside the house and the gas generated from it operated the machinery. It was part of the duty of Earnest Reid and George Davis to draw the gasoline from the drum. About 6 o’clock in the evening of the 2d day of July, 1896, said Earnest Reid and George Davis were in the act of drawing gasoline from the said drum, for use in said laundry business, when the gas which had generated in the drum escaped and permeated the atmosphere of the yard and came in contact with the furnace fire, which caused it to explode with a loud noise, seriously injuring George Davis, from which injuries he died two days thereafter. The weather was hot, and the explosion was caused by the gas which escaped from the drum coming in contact with the furnace fire. George Davis, previous to being injured, was of good habits, industrious, energetic, and earning $21 per month. He contributed his entire earnings to' his father and mother, the plaintiffs in this case. The gasoline sold by defendant, through its said agent, to said Collins and wife, and which caused said explosion, was what is known as 87-degree gasoline, and is inherently dangerous by reason of its inflammable and explosive character. It is not in general or common use by the public. The defendant knew the dangerous qualities of 87-degree gasoline, but it was not known by defendant’s agent, R. 0. Pierson. The dangerous character of said gasoline was not known to E. E. Collins nor his wife Jennie, nor by the foreman, E. Reid, nor by the said George Davis. There was no notice given by the defendant company, or its agent Pierson, to said Collins or his wife of the dangerous character of said gasoline when the same was purchased by them. In making the sale, defendant’s agent Pierson represented to said E. E. Collins and wife that there was no danger in receiving and placing said drum of gasoline upon their premises under the shed at the place where it was located when the explosion took place. Collins relied upon said statement, and was induced thereby to purchase said drum of gasoline. The defendant company was guilty of negligence in employing as its agent to sell gasoline at Ennis, Texas, a person ignorant of the dangerous qualities of 87-degree gasoline, and in failing to warn E. E. Collins and wife, Jennie Collins, of the dangerous character of 87-degree gasoline, and such negligence was the cause of the injury to George Davis. George Davis was not guilty of contributory negligence, nor did he assume the risk resulting from the handling-of said gasoline when he entered the employ of Collins. The plaintiffs are the father and mother of George Davis, and have suffered damage in the amount found by the jury.

Conclusions of Law.—Appellant’s first, second, and third assignments, of error are grouped, and raise the question of the correctness of the ruling of the trial court in overruling the defendants special and general demurrers to plaintiff’s petition. The petition alleges that defendant manufactured and sold 87-degree gasoline, the most dangerous grade of gasoline sold in the market, and kept only at certain points in Texas, and requiring great care to prevent explosion; * * * that R. 0.. *511 Pierson was its agent to sell said merchandise, and though it was the duty of the company to employ competent and experienced agents to sell the same and instruct customers as to its dangerous qualities, yet Pierson was wholly ignorant and inexperienced as to said gasoline, and defendant thereby became responsible for any injury to others resulting from the ignorance of said agent while in the course of his employment. That Collins and wife, the owners of the laundry, were ignorant of the peculiar and inflammable nature of said gasoline, and relied on the statements of said Pierson in reference to its safe use. That Pier-son, while acting in the actual and apparent scope of his employment, and desiring to effect the sale of said gasoline, induced Collins and wife by false representations of its safety and harmlessness to receive and store said gasoline on their premises, whereby Collins and wife and their employes and the said George Davis were placed in a position of extreme danger and lulled into the belief of security which brought about the injury which resulted in the death of said George Davis. That Collins and wife, the.owners of the laundry, and George Davis were ignorant of the peculiar inflammable nature of the gasoline, as the said agent well knew, and relied upon his statement, all of which said agent well knew. It is further alleged that 87-degree gasoline was not commonly used by the public, and that it was the duty of defendant, it knowing the dangerous character of said grade of gasoline, to notify and warn parties purchasing -the same from them of the character of said gasoline; and that it was the duty of defendant’s agent to notify and warn purchasers of its dangerous qualities.

The main contention of the appellant under the above assignments is, that one who sells an article of merchandise is not responsible for damages to an employe of the purchaser resulting from an improper use of the article sold.

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Bluebook (online)
60 S.W. 453, 24 Tex. Civ. App. 508, 1900 Tex. App. LEXIS 229, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waters-pierce-oil-co-v-davis-texapp-1900.