Scott v. City And County of San Francisco

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of nonsuit. On October 7, 1946 between 4 and 4:30 p. m. plaintiff was struck by a northbound streetcar of the San Francisco Municipal Railway operated over San Bruno avenue. Plaintiff was employed by a roofing contractor as a member of a crew engaged in installing a roof on a building under construction. His particular duty was to tend the tar kettle in which tar was heated for use in the construction of the roof. There was a pile of debris in front of the building and workmen of defendant had dug a trench in the street leading to the building for the installation of a water or sewer pipe. By reason of the trench and the debris the tar kettle had been placed within 3 feet of the overhang of streetcars operated on the northbound track. Just before the casualty to plaintiff occurred the tar had caught on fire and he had gone between the northbound track and the kettle to the south end of the kettle to trip the lid and thus extinguish the fire. From that point, taking the testimony most favorable to plaintiff, the following occurred: