Lake Erie & Western Railroad v. Middlecoff

This was an action on the case, brought by Jonathan Middlecoff and four others, copartners, etc., for their own use and for the use of certain insurance companies, against the Lake Erie and Western Railroad Company, to recover damages for the destruction by a fire caused by sparks emitted from one of the defendant’s locomotive engines, of a certain canning factory and the appurtenances and machinery therein. At the trial the jury found the defendant guilty and assessed the plaintiffs’ damages at $8900, and for that sum and costs the plaintiff had judgment. That judgment, on appeal to the…