Baldwin v. Wiggins

STANLEY, Commissioner.

George Pope, counterman in a Cynthiana restaurant called “The Lunch Box,” owned and operated by D. C. Baldwin, sprayed or poured flammable fluid used in automatic cigarette lighters on the shirt of Nelson Wiggins, a patron, and then set it afire. Wiggins had dozed off asleep while seated at a counter where he had drunk a cup of coffee. Pope testified Wiggins had been drinking intoxicants, but he denied it. Wiggins suffered burns which necessitated hospitalization for nine days. In his action for damages the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff for $1,-274.50, with…