Kessler v. the Ansonia

The plaintiff, under a written lease, occupied an apartment in a building owned by the defendant. In a living room of the apartment she had stored valuable furniture, paintings and rugs. The room was isolated from the remainder of the apartment by doors which were at all times closed. On a certain morning, a pipe, supplying steam to a radiator in the living room, burst, with the result that steam, escaping in great volume, did serious damage to the personal property stored. In the absence of any explanation, it was the reasonable inference, arising from the explosion, without further proof,…