American Airlines, Inc. v. Shell Oil Co.

This lawsuit involves a dangerous fire, a great amount of monetary damage, and a lengthy record. Each party involved seeks to establish negligence on the part of the other as to the cause of the fire and the damage it suffered therefrom. At the end of trial, the judge instructed the jury to return no cause for action as to both plaintiffs and cross plaintiff because, he said:

“All of the evidence on both sides of this case pertaining to negligence rests entirely on surmise, speculation, and conjecture.”

Each party appeals, asserting that it did present evidence from which the jury could have…