Fireman's Fund American Insurance Companies v. Knobbe

Supreme Court of Nevada · Torts

TortsRes ipsa loquiturNegligenceSummary judgmentres ipsa loquiturexclusive controlmultiple defendantscigarette fire

Facts

A fire was discovered in a Las Vegas hotel room occupied that night by John and Marilyn Doherty, who were traveling with Andrew and Geraldine Knobbe in an adjoining connecting room. The cause of the fire was determined to be a cigarette. Evidence showed that all four respondents were smoking in the room, but there was no evidence identifying which cigarette started the fire. There was also evidence that the hotel had 18 keys to the room, and the hotel staff was not questioned to determine whether anyone entered the room after the respondents left and before the fire was discovered.

Issue

May the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur be invoked to recover damages from hotel guests for a fire caused by a cigarette in one guest room when multiple guests were smoking and there is no evidence identifying which guest controlled the cigarette that caused the fire?

Rule

Res ipsa loquitur applies only when three conditions are met: (1) the event is of a kind that ordinarily does not occur in the absence of someone's negligence; (2) the event was caused by an agency or instrumentality within the exclusive control of the defendant; and (3) the event was not due to any voluntary action or contribution by the plaintiff. Where several defendants are wholly independent of each other and there is no evidence indicating which defendant controlled the injury-causing instrumentality, the doctrine does not apply.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

A cabin owner in Asheville, North Carolina rented the cabin for a weekend to three friends—Lena Ortiz, Brian Keller, and Maya Sloan—who were all smoking on the porch before leaving for dinner. A fire later started from a cigarette, but investigators could not determine whose cigarette ignited the porch, and the owner's maintenance staff also had access to the property during that time.

If the owner sues all three guests and relies only on res ipsa loquitur, which is the strongest argument against applying the doctrine?

Explanation. The majority required proof that the injury-causing instrumentality was within the defendant's exclusive control. When several defendants are wholly independent and there is no evidence showing which one controlled the instrumentality that caused the harm, res ipsa loquitur is unavailable. Here, although all three smoked, there is no evidence identifying whose cigarette caused the fire, and others also had access. (Derived from Fireman's Fund American Insurance Companies v. Knobbe (n.d.).)