Section 16.10 Unintentional Detonation of Explosives

• Library: Tort Law 2016

2. (§16.10) Unintentional Detonation of Explosives

There is no known case in Missouri in which strict liability principles have been applied to the unintentional detonation of explosives. Courts have used a nuisance theory in dealing with claims of unintended explosions of stored explosives. See:

· Schnitzer v. Excelsior Powder Mfg. Co., 160 S.W. 282 (Mo. App. W.D. 1912)

· State, by Major, ex rel. Hopkins v. Excelsior Powder Mfg. Co., 169 S.W. 267 (Mo. 1914)

· Liggett v. Excelsior Powder Mfg. Co., 202 S.W. 372 (Mo. 1918)

But there is a line of cases that essentially found defendants to be strictly liable for unintended explosions, though not under a strict liability theory of liability. Under this line of cases, a person that stores explosives is liable to those in populated areas regardless of efforts taken to prevent unintentional explosions. Scalpino v. Smith, 135 S.W. 1000 (Mo. App. W.D. 1911). Thus, when a substance explodes and damages another person’s property, the person that stored the explosives is liable for damages whether the explosion was the result of negligence or simply a pure accident. French v. Ctr. Creek Powder Mfg. Co., 158 S.W. 723 (Mo. App. S.D. 1913); see also St. Joseph Lead Co. v. Prather, 238 F.2d 301 (8^th Cir. 1956). These cases found that liability for a public nuisance could be established regardless of the...