Case Name: WARNER, Respondent, v. GEORGE A. OTIS CO., Appellant
Court: New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division
Jurisdiction: New York
Decision Date: 1914-05-20
Citations: 147 N.Y.S. 1148
Docket Number: 
Parties: WARNER, Respondent, v. GEORGE A. OTIS CO., Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: West's New York Supplement
Volume: 147
Pages: 1148–1148

Head Matter:
WARNER, Respondent, v. GEORGE A. OTIS CO., Appellant.
(Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department.
May 20, 1914.)
Action by Francis L. Warner against the George A. Otis -Company.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
Judgment and order reversed, and new trial granted, with costs to appellant to abide event. Held: (1) That the plaintiff failed to show the defendant guilty of actionable negligence. (2) That even assuming that the defendant was negligent in maintaining the unguarded gas jet burning in the hallway from which the fire originated, such negligence was not a proximate cause of the plaintifi~'s injuries. -
KRIJSE, P. 3., and LAMBERT, 3., dissent, upon the ground that, although the burning gas jet was erroneously eliminated on the trial as a proximate cause, the verdict may be sustained upon the ground that the defendant's president negligently directed the plaintiff to take the burning bale from the building, and whether defendant's president was negligent or merely erred in judgment, was a question of fact.