Degolyer v. Commonwealth

On March 17, 1950, Gary Grace and Curtis Brown, boys about seven years old, were badly burned by the explosion of a gasoline tank on a vacant lot in the Dundalk area of Baltimore County. The tank was the property of the Texas Company and had been placed on the lot by Joseph Wielgosz, a builder, who had removed it from a near-by lot owned by Forteno N. Pecora, Pauline Pecora and Pitt Pecora. Actions were filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County against the Texas Company, Wielgosz and the Pecoras on behalf of each boy for personal injuries and a parent of each for expenses and loss of services. The cases were consolidated and after a jury trial lasting eight days resulted in verdicts for