Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Co. v. Matlock

Seventeen-year-old Matlock (defendant) bought cigarettes for himself and 15-year-old Erdley, and while trespassing and smoking on a private pole-storage lot with two younger boys, Erdley dropped a lit cigarette that ignited the stacked poles, causing major fire damage. Erdley's insurer Wawanesa (plaintiff), after paying out on the resulting property and firefighting claims, sued Matlock and his father for contribution, and the trial court relied partly on the state's minor-tobacco statute to find the Matlocks liable; they appealed.

Whether the doctrine of negligence per se applies based on violation of a statute when the plaintiff was not within the class of persons the statute was designed to protect and did not suffer the type of harm the statute sought to prevent.