Koos v. Roth

We are called upon to decide whether a farmer who employs field burning as an agricultural technique is strictly liable to pay damages when the fire enters upon and destroys a neighbor’s property, without any need to show that the field burning was conducted negligently. The Court of Appeals so held in a decision in banc, three judges dissenting, 55 Or App 12, 637 P2d 167 (1982), and the theoretical and practical importance of the issue led us to allow review.

The course of events is essentially undisputed. Defendant was engaged in the commercial production of grass seed on 55 leased acres in…