Mountain Equestrian Trails Ltd v Western Gas Company Ltd

• Judge: Shanks, J.
• Judgment Date: 18 April 2000
• Court: High Court (Belize)
• Docket Number: 83 of 1993
• Date: 18 April 2000

High Court

Shanks, J.

83 of 1993

Mountain Equestrian Trails Limited

and

Western Gas Company Limited

Appearances:

Mr. Derek Courtenay S.C. for the plaintiff.

Mr. Fred Lumor for the defendants.

Negligence - Damage to property — Fire — Gas explosion — Defendants were supplying gas to plaintiffs — No confirmation that equipment in plaintiff's kitchen was turned off — Fire caused by naked flames in plaintiff's kitchen — Whether the defendants were liable — Finding that the defendant's employees were carrying out a hazardous operation and did so without making contact with anyone in authority in the plaintiff's lodge and were therefore liable for the accident.

Shanks, J.

1 This is a claim arising out of a fire that occurred on the 20 February 1993 at about 5:00 p.m. while the defendants were delivering butane gas to the plaintiff's tourist lodge near Mountain Pine Ridge The main building known as the “cantina” was destroyed in the fire and the plaintiff's owner, Mr. Bevis, gave evidence that this had caused a loss of $118,106 to the company. That figure was not challenged by Mr. Lumor for the defendants. As well as hearing from Mr. Bevis, I heard evidence from Liberata Bolon, who was a kitchen helper in the cantina when the fire broke out, and on the defendants' side Roque Reyes and his son Miguel Reyes, who respectively owned and managed the defendants, Antonio Rudon, the driver who made the gas delivery, and, Jorge Porras who was the technical person at the defendants responsible for safety.

2 The plaintiff had a stove, a refrigerator, a deep freeze and a beer Goole which all ran on gas in the kitchen attached to the cantina. The gas was supplied from a 100 gallon tank which was stored outside the bar and connected to the various appliances by copper tubing. The cantina was constructed with wooden posts and a thatched roof and palmetto walls. The defendants had been delivering gas to the plaintiff for about a year once a month and their staff were therefore familiar with the site.

3 20 February 1993 was a Saturday. Mr. Bevis called the defendants and ordered some gas sometime in the afternoon. When Mr. Rudon and his side-man arrived to deliver the gas at 5:00 p.m. he was in his house about 150 yards away. The only person around was Liberata Bolon who was reading a book in the cantina. According to Mr. Rudon he saw his side-man have a conversation with her (but he did not hear what was said); he...