Cracknell

Plaintiffs appeal from an adverse judgment in favor of each defendant, entered upon jury verdicts in an action brought to recover damages resulting from several fires at Forks Motel, Ulriah, on the early morning of November 27, 1960. Plaintiffs Cracknell and Richardson were absentee owners of the motel, which they had purchased in September 1959. Plaintiff Thompson was its resident manager.

The complaint charges that the fires were caused by a malfunctioning of a propane gas distribution system which had been installed upon the motel premises.

The eomplained-of distribution system consisted of a storage tank, a pressure regulator, a short length of copper tubing called a “pigtail” which connected the storage tank to the pressure regulator, and one (one witness said two) ell pipe fitting which was screwed into an exhaust vent of the regulator. The stated components of the distribution system will be referred to as “tank,” “regulator,” “pigtail,” “ell,” and “vent,” respectively. Pipes leading from the regulator to the various appliances within the motel were owned and maintained by plaintiffs and are in no way a subject of the action.

Defendant Fisher Governor Company was the…