## Facts

- A gasoline truck-and-trailer unit operated by Aaron L. Kuhlman and owned by Pacific Intermountain Express carried roughly 8,600 gallons of gasoline from Tumwater, Washington, toward Port Angeles.
- After leaving Interstate 5 for the Capitol Lake interchange toward Highway 101, Kuhlman felt a “jerk” and observed the trailer leaning and separating from the tractor.
- The trailer disengaged, crashed through a fence, and overturned onto Capitol Lake Drive below, spilling thousands of gallons of gasoline onto the roadway.
- Seventeen-year-old Carol J. House drove along Capitol Lake Drive that evening under dark but dry conditions with headlights on.
- House’s vehicle encountered the gasoline spill; a fire and explosion occurred, and she died in the resulting flames.
- The precise mechanical or operational cause of the trailer’s detachment and overturning could not be determined, in part because the fire destroyed physical evidence.
- The decedent’s estate sued Kuhlman and the carrier for wrongful death, alleging negligent inspection, maintenance, and operation; it also sought to apply res ipsa loquitur and strict liability based on the nature of the activity and safety statutes governing trailer connections and load containment.

## Issues

1. Whether transporting thousands of gallons of gasoline by truck-and-trailer on public highways constitutes an abnormally dangerous activity subject to strict liability for resulting harm.
2. Whether the plaintiff was entitled to a res ipsa loquitur instruction based on the unexplained trailer detachment, spill, and explosion.
3. What role statutes requiring secure trailer connections and preventing loads from leaking or escaping play in assessing liability.

## Decision

- The Washington Supreme Court reversed the defense verdict and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held that hauling large quantities of gasoline on public highways is an abnormally dangerous activity and supports strict liability for harm proximately caused by the activity.
- The court held the trial court erred by refusing to instruct the jury on res ipsa loquitur, because the circumstances permitted an inference of negligence from the occurrence.
- The court treated the safety statutes concerning trailer connections and escaping loads as consistent with the legal judgment that this activity presents exceptional public risk.

## Legal Principles

- Strict liability applies to an abnormally dangerous activity when it creates a high risk of serious harm that cannot be eliminated even by the exercise of the utmost care, and the harm results from the activity’s characteristic danger.
- Bulk transportation of highly flammable gasoline on public roads may be classified as abnormally dangerous under Restatement (Second) of Torts § 519, making the carrier liable without proof of specific negligence.
- Res ipsa loquitur permits a factfinder to infer negligence when (1) the event ordinarily does not occur absent negligence, (2) the instrumentality was in the defendant’s exclusive control at the relevant time, and (3) the plaintiff did not cause the event.
- Res ipsa loquitur is particularly appropriate when the accident and resulting catastrophe destroy evidence of the precise failure, leaving the injured party unable to identify a specific negligent act despite a strong indication that “something was not as it should have been.”
- Statutory duties requiring secure trailer connections and preventing loads from escaping reinforce the foreseeability and seriousness of the risk posed by hazardous cargo spills on highways and may bear on fault-based theories where tried.

## Conclusion

The court required that the carrier and driver face liability under a strict-liability theory for the abnormally dangerous activity of transporting massive quantities of gasoline on public highways and also held that the jury should have been instructed on res ipsa loquitur because the unexplained trailer separation and catastrophic spill supported an inference of negligence despite evidentiary destruction.


Siegler v. Kuhlman, 81 Wn.2d 448, 502 P.2d 1181 (Wash. 1972)