Irwin v. Kansas City

—The plaintiff sued a partnership and the city to recover damages caused by stepping into a coal hole in the sidewalk on the south side of Twelfth street near the southeast corner of Twelfth and Walnut in Kansas City, Missouri. This coal hole was near the center of the sidewalk and in front of the business house of the defendant partnership: It had for a cover an ordinary iron lid, but the partners used the basement as a room for dishwashing, and were in the habit of removing this lid each morning and leaving it off during the day to let air into the basement.

Plaintiff testified that, at the…