Matter of Finnegan v. Biehn

Joseph and Catherine Burns, husband and wife, were employed as janitors of a tenement house, which contained no central heating system. They received as compensation a small monthly wage and the use of an apartment in the building. Both died as the result of burns suffered in a fire which occurred on January 1, 1935, when an oil heater, which they were using to keep their apartment warm, was accidentally overturned. At the time of the fire all the tenants had vacated the building, and the decedents were remaining on the premises in order to watch the building and to perform general duties of…