Zimmer v. Philadelphia
Zimmer v. Philadelphia
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The principle involved in this case is not in doubt. Municipal corporations are liable for negligence in the management of their property in the same manner as individuals and private corporations are liable: Briegel v. Philadelphia, 135 Pa. 451; and this rule of duty applies in the distribution of water as in other relations of the municipality to its inhabitants. The negligence of the city’s servants in the maintenance of its water pipe system is attributable to the employer: Bodge v. Philadelphia; 167 Pa. 492. Where, therefore, by reason of a faulty construction of a line of pipe or because after construction it became out of repair, a leak resulted causing damage the municipality is liable if it failed to exercise such diligence and care as ordinary prudence would require under the circumstances after notice, actual or constructive of the defect. The subject is discussed in Morgan v. Duquesne Boro., 29 Pa. Superior Ct. 100, and numerous authorities are there cited sustaining the principle announced. The plaintiff’s case grows out of a break in a water main located under the surface of Twenty-ninth street a short distance north of Lehigh avenue. The pipe was about four feet in diameter and a large volume of water flowed down Lehigh
The judgment is, therefore, affirmed.
Reference
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- Negligence — Municipalities—Defective water pipe. 1. Where by reason of a faulty construction of a line of water pipe, or because after construction such pipe becomes out of repair, a leak results causing damage, the municipality is liable if it fails to exercise such diligence and care as ordinary prudence would require under the circumstances after notice, actual or constructive, of the defect. 2. In an action against a city to recover for injuries to a house alleged to have resulted from a break in a water pipe, the case is for the jury where the plaintiff produces evidence tending to show that the street had settled at or near the place where the break occurred; that irregularities and depressions existed in the surface sufficient to create the impression that a defect existed in the water main; that the street was in a wet condition at this point, and had so continued for a long time; that after the repair of the pipe the wet condition was not observed; and that in the opinion of a mechanical engineer called by the plaintiff the fracture in the pipe.was an old one from which the water had been leaking for a long time. Such evidence makes out a prima facie case for the plaintiff, and is sufficient to put the city on proof.