Opinion ID: 2194331
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Grease Fires Happen

Text: Nor has Clinkscales shown the grease fire was such that in the ordinary course of things it would not have happened if reasonable care had been used. As the district court and court of appeals both pointed out, grease fires commonly occur in the absence of negligence. The classic English case of Byrne v. Boadle, 159 Eng. Rep. 299 (Ex. 1863), perhaps best illustrates the sorts of cases in which res ipsa loquitur properly applies, and how it works. In Byrne, a barrel of flour fell on the plaintiff, who was walking next to the defendant's shop. 159 Eng. Rep. at 299. Although one could readily infer the barrel came from the defendant's shop, the plaintiff could not show precisely how the defendant was negligent. Id. Nonetheless, the court thought the accident spoke for itself and therefore held the defendant was negligent, albeit in some unspecified way. Id. at 301. The case at bar is manifestly unlike Byrne. Grease fires  unlike barrels of flour falling from the sky  occur in the absence of negligence. Put simply, res ipsa loquitur should not apply here because this is not the sort of case for which the doctrine was designed. In holding to the contrary, the majority stretches res ipsa loquitur beyond its proper scope. TERNUS and CADY, JJ., join this special concurrence in part and dissent in part.