Ashworth

The plaintiff brought this action against the defendants to recover damages caused by *664 them in repairing a sewer in Tenth street. The defendant, Ashworth, was superintendent of public streets and highways in San Francisco, and his co-defendant was his deputy, under whose direction the work was done. The complaint alleges that in January, 1888, a break occurred in the sewer in Tenth street, near Bryant, and that the defendants undertook to repair it, and did the work in such a negligent and unskillful manner as to prevent the flow of sewage through the sewer, and cause it to flow back and be discharged into her house through a private sewer connecting her house with the public sewer, from which she suffered the damage complained of. The defendants in their answer denied that the damage sustained by the plaintiff was caused by any of their acts, and alleged that the acts done by them were done in their official capacity, and that they performed said work of repairing the sewer in a skillful and workmanlike manner. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the sum of eight hundred dollars, and from the judgment entered thereon, and an order denying a new trial,…