Brownsville Navigation District v. Valley Ice & Fuel Co.

POPE, Justice.

Brownsville Navigation District sued the Valley Ice & Fuel Company, Inc., and Steve Mencsik for negligently setting fire to a pier which plaintiff owned at the Port of Brownsville. After a trial by jury, the court rendered judgment against plaintiff District. The jury found that the defendant Ice Company was negligent in using an oxygen acetylene torch on the pier without having available a fire-watcher, a fire extinguisher or a water hose, and in failing to inspect the premises for an accumulation of trash; and that this act under these circumstances was the proximate cause of…