Jefferson Lumber Co. v. Berry

LIVINGSTON, Justice.

The case went to the jury on count one of the complaint, which states a cause of action for negligence resulting in injury. It is not an action of trespass. In substance, count one charges that defendant’s agents or employees, while acting in the line and scope of their employment, negligently set fire to a tree on, adjacent to, or near plaintiff’s land, and negligently allowed said fire to spread to plaintiff’s lands destroying his timber, and the forest mold beneath said timber, impairing the fertility of the soil and making it subject to erosion.

Defendant in the court…