Susan Marie Long, a Minor v. the City of Weirton and Manufacturers Heat and Light Co., a Corp.

Summary

The court affirmed the jury judgment of $216,545 against Manufacturers Light and Heat Company, holding the evidence sufficient for the jury to find that the gas company's delayed response to notice of a gas line struck during the City of Weirton's street excavation concurred with the City's negligence and proximately caused an explosion that gravely injured infant Susan Marie Long. It held that causation may be found where evidence points to one logical sequence of cause and effect without excluding every alternative theory, and that the expert's hypothetical question was properly grounded in the evidence. The court abolished the doctrine of municipal governmental immunity in West Virginia, abrogated the governmental-proprietary distinction, and overruled its precedents that had immunized municipalities for negligence in governmental functions, reversing the judgment that had exonerated the City. The case was remanded for reinstatement of the verdict against the City of Weirton.