D'Entremont v. Boston Consol. Gas Co‪.‬

SPALDING, Justice. The plaintiff seeks compensation in this action of tort for an illness alleged to have been suffered by her by reason of the defendant's negligence in permitting illuminating gas to escape from a defective meter under its control. The question for decision is whether the Judge erred in directing a verdict for the defendant. The jury could have found these facts: The plaintiff and her husband in the early part of September, 1942, became the occupants of a two-story apartment at 18 Sachem Street in Wollaston. The kitchen, which was on the first floor, was directly over a furnace room in the basement in which the defendant's gas meter was located. The boards on the kitchen floor were old and had separated so that it was possible to see light in the furnace room when it was lighted.