Public Utilities: Negligence – Personal Injury Liability – Exculpatory Clause

Where a gas company’s tariff included an exculpatory clause that released the company from liability for injuries or harm caused by its negligence occurring on customers’ gas equipment on the customers’ side of the meters, no statute abrogates a customer’s right to sue a public utility for negligence involving personal injury or property damage, so the Public Service Commission’s decision is reversed because it exceed its authority by allowing the company to immunize itself from liability

Judgment is reversed and remanded.

Public Service Commission v. Missouri Gas Energy (MLW No. 64289/Case No. WD74732 – 17 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Welsh, J.) Appealed from the Public Service Commission (Marc Poston, Jefferson City, for appellant) (Shelley Brueggemann and Paul Boudreau, Jefferson City, for respondents).

Read the full text of this opinion. (PDF)