Section 16.12 Storage and Sale of Gasoline—Need for Damage to Another

• Library: Tort Law 2016

4. (§16.12) Storage and Sale of Gasoline—Need for Damage to Another

No cases in Missouri have applied strict liability to claims involving the storage and sale of gasoline. Negligence principles control, similar to cases involving the unintentional detonation of explosives.

Gasoline is very common and a universally used commodity. Its properties are generally known to all. Tharp v. Monsees, 327 S.W.2d 889 (Mo. banc 1959). The mere storage of large quantities of gasoline does not constitute negligence per se, and other factors must be considered. City of Spickardsville v. Terry, 274 S.W.2d 21, 25 (Mo. App. W.D. 1954).

"The storage of gasoline in reasonable quantities in buried tanks at a filling station is not, at this day [1931], regarded as an unnatural gathering of a dangerous...