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Negligence-Proximate Cause-Foreseeability Of Negligent Intervening Act, Lewis R. Williams, Jr. S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiff's intestate purchased from Montgomery Ward & Company a gas water heater which had been manufactured by a third party. The heater was installed by defendant Rulane Gas Company. It worked satisfactorily for fourteen months until the flame went out due to unknown causes. Deceased notified the defendant, and sixteen hours later it sent a repairman to investigate the trouble. He descended to the basement with deceased and struck a match in disregard of a warning not to do so. An explosion followed in which both deceased and the repairman were killed. Investigation showed that the "automatic cut-off" valve was …