Gensburger

Defendants appeal from an order granting plaintiff’s motion for a new trial.

Plaintiff Lily Gensburger brought this action to obtain damages for personal injuries sustained when she was scalded by hot water. Plaintiff was a tenant in an apartment house owned by defendants Glafara and Efim Shapiro, who employed defendant A. J. Lay to maintain and control the hot water supply. Plaintiff’s complaint was that defendants had maintained the hot water supply so negligently as to cause excessively hot water to flow through the pipes, and that as a proximate result of this negligence, plaintiff, upon using the bath facilities in her apartment, was severely burned and scalded by excessively hot water coming from the shower head.

Defendants’ answer denied the material allegations of the complaint and affirmatively asserted the contributory negligence of plaintiff.

Plaintiff testified that she was 61 years old, and had rented the apartment from defendants Shapiro in August 1957; that she took daily baths, and knew the hot water furnished was “very scalding” and that she had complained about it to Mrs. Shapiro. On the evening of December 7, 1957, the plaintiff stated she went to bed but was…