Foley v. the Pittsburgh-Des Moines Co.

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Horace Stern,

This action arises out of a grave disaster which took place in the City of Cleveland, Ohio, on October 20,1944. Leakages occurred in a tank of the East Ohio Gas Company containing liquefied natural gas of a temperature of between 250 and 260 degrees below zero Fahrenheit; the tank collapsed, the liquid gas flowed out in all directions and became ignited, with the result that over a hundred persons lost their lives and some 231 separate suits for damages have been brought in Ohio and Pennsylvania, both in State and Federal courts, against the present and…