Hollywood Shop, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Gas & Water Co.

SPAETH, Judge:

This is an appeal from an order granting a new trial. The trial judge refused the plaintiff’s (appellee’s) request for a res ipsa loquitur instruction, but the lower court, sitting en banc, held that the instruction should have been given.

The case concerns a water main break that occurred in Wilkes-Barre on May 28, 1972. Appellee’s store, which was on the first block of South Main Street, suffered substantial damage as a result of the break. Appellant owned the water main. The main was a ten inch main and made of cast iron, and had been installed in 1888 by appellant’s…