Fowler v. Seaton

SCHAUER, J., Dissenting.

On the undisputed facts of this record it is my opinion that plaintiff had failed to adduce sufficient evidence to justify relieving her of all burden of *691proof on the issue of negligence by application of the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. Even that “simple, understandable rule of circumstantial evidence” (Ybarra v. Spangard (1944) 25 Cal.2d 486, 489 [1] [154 P.2d 687, 162 A.L.R 1258]) must be founded on proof rather than conjecture: as said in Nelson v. Douglas Pedlow, Inc. (1955) 130 Cal.App.2d 780, 784 [6] [279 P.2d 823], “The res ipsa loquitur doctrine is not…