Hubbard v. Quality Oil Company of Statesville, Inc.

Branch J.

The decisive question on this appeal is whether the court erred in overruling defendants’ motion for nonsuit.

The doctrine of res ipsa loquitur is not invoked by plaintiff, nor is it available. The attic furnace, the underground tanks, filler pipes, and the entire store building were under the control of the plaintiff. The doctrine does not apply when the instrumentalities causing the injury are not under the exclusive control or management of the defendant. Nor does the doctrine apply “where more than one inference can be drawn from the evidence as to the cause of the injury, (or) .…