Brown Et Ux. v. T. W. Phillips Gas & Oil Co

HARTSHORNE, District Judge.

Plaintiffs owned and operated a poultry farm in Pennsylvania, heated by natural gas from defendant’s well, which was on, or close to, the farm. Under the company regulations, accepted by plaintiffs, it was plaintiffs’ duty to maintain the local gas facilities, including a pressure regulator and blow-off valve, in order to keep down to a safe degree any undue pressure in the gas line, the which ultimately caused the fire in question. There had been trouble with the regulator for a year or so before the fire, as the result of which defendant’s employees, despite the…