Liability of Water Companies for Fire Losses Another View

Authors

Albert Martin Kales, Northwestern University Law School

Abstract

In the Superior Court of Cook County, Illinois, before Judge Arthur H. Frost, there was recently presented in substance this case: A private corporation furnishing water to a municipality for fire protection had contracted with the town, in consideration of certain fire hydrant rentals, to keep at all times a pressure of water of at least thirty-five pounds per square inch on the water pipes connected with said fire hydrants, and, in case of a fire, to increase, at once, the pressure to forty pounds per square inch. A fire occurred. It was assumed that the water company had notice of it; that the fire department arrived in time to have saved the plaintiff's house, had the pressure contracted for been furnished; that the pressure was not furnished and that the plaintiff's property was destroyed. The plaintiff sued the water company in an action sounding only in contract. The learned judge directed a verdict for the defendant. A direct appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed for want of jurisdiction and the case is not now pending in any court.

Recommended Citation

Albert M. Kales, Liability of Water Companies for Fire Losses Another View, 3 Mich. L. Rev. 501 (1905).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol3/iss7/1