TORTS - LIABILITY OF LANDOWNER TO PEDESTRIAN FOR ACTS OF THIRD PERSONS

Children built a fire in the street outside defendant's premises after business hours. They went on defendant's premises and took gasoline which defendant had allowed to collect in a drip can under a spigot. When they threw the gas toward the fire it splashed on plaintiff, an infant standing nearby; his clothing caught fire when he tripped and fell toward the fire. There was evidence that defendant knew the children had been playing on his premises.

Held, that plaintiff has failed to show that defendant was negligent in the conduct of his business, and that the doctrine of attractive nuisance has no application, Judges Lehman and Loughran dissenting. Morse v. Buffalo Tank Corp., 280 N. Y. 110, 19 N. E. (2d) 981 (1939).