Wealthy Mathilda contracted with a fuel-oil supplier to keep her 3,000-gallon tank filled, and never gave it another thought. For two years the supplier busily kept the tank brimming. Then Luke, next door, traced the damage to his costly trees and shrubs to oil seeping from a leak in the tank. He sued the supplier.

"The supplier was negligent in supplying such enormous quantities of oil without checking to see where it was going," Luke contended. "In two years he poured 26,000 gallons into Mathilda's tank, whereas previously she never used more than 3,000 gallons a year."

"We simply had a contract with Mathilda to keep her tank filled," counsel for the supplier replied. "It wasn't our job or duty to check for leaks. Mathilda never complained that too much was being delivered."

If you were the judge, would you make the supplier pay?

The supplier did not have to pay. The court said he was not negligent, as he did not know of the leak in the tank or the amount of oil previously used.

Based upon a 1959 Michigan decision.

-- Gerald I. Ralya