Torts: Evidence: Res Ipsa Loquitur Doctrine: Application in Pennsylvania

The plaintiff sued defendant power company for damages resulting from the destruction of his building by fire. The electricity furnished by defendant, after being reduced by a transformer, passed from its main line through an auxiliary line to a point a few inches from plaintiff's building where it was connected with the wiring system of the building which had been installed, and at the time of the accident was controlled, by plaintiff. Failing to show by direct proof that the transformer was defective and the proximate cause of the loss, plaintiff's claim for negligent destruction of his building was predicated upon the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur. Held, affirming the decision of the lower court, that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur was inapplicable because the defendant had not shown that a defect in his own wiring system was not the proximate cause of the destruction of the building. Clark v. Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., 336 Pa. 75, 6 A. (2d) 892 (1939).