Tighe v. Lowell

Decision Date13 January 1876
Citation119 Mass. 472
PartiesMargaret Tighe v. City of Lowell
CourtUnited States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Middlesex. Tort for personal injuries occasioned by a defect in a public street, in the defendant city. The alleged defect was an open ditch excavated for a sewer, into which the plaintiff fell and broke her arm.

At the trial in the Superior Court, before Pitman, J., the plaintiff, who was six years old at the time of the accident, testified that she did not remember much about getting hurt; that she was standing by the side of the sewer and fell in; that she was playing tag with another little girl; that she went out from her mother's house, near by, to play with this little girl, and that she was not going anywhere else.

The judge ruled that there was no evidence which would authorize the jury to find that the plaintiff was a traveller upon the highway at the time of the accident, and directed them to return a verdict for the defendant; and after verdict reported the case for the consideration of this court. If upon the evidence the plaintiff was entitled to go to the jury, the verdict was to be set aside; otherwise judgment was to be rendered thereon.

Exceptions overruled.

C. A. F. Swan, for the plaintiff, contended that the case should have been submitted to the jury; and cited Stickney v. Salem, 3 Allen 374; Hamilton v. Boston, 14 Allen 475, 483.

G. F. Richardson, for the defendant, was not called upon.

Colt & Endicott, JJ., absent.

OPINION

By the Court.

The evidence at the trial showed that the plaintiff was using the highway as a play ground, and the case is governed by Blodgett v. Boston, 8 Allen 237.

Exceptions overruled.

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27 cases
  • McKenna v. Andreassi
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
    • 5 Octubre 1935
    ...on the street for whose use the city was required to keep it in repair. Blodgett v. Boston, 8 Allen, 237;Tighe v. City of Lowell, 119 Mass. 472. The ‘public ways of the commonwealth are not laid out as playgrounds for children.’ O'Brien v. Hudner, 182 Mass. 381, 382, 65 N. E. 788, 789.[292 ......
  • McKenna v. Andreassi
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
    • 5 Octubre 1935
    ...was not a traveller on the street for whose use the city was required to keep it in repair. Blodgett v. Boston, 8 Allen, 237; Tighe v. City of Lowell, 119 Mass. 472. ‘ public ways of the commonwealth are not laid out as playgrounds for children.’ O'Brien v. Hudner, 182 Mass. 381, 382, 65 N.......
  • Irvine v. Town of Greenwood
    • United States
    • South Carolina Supreme Court
    • 2 Octubre 1911
    ... ... could be held liable for the damages thereby ... occasioned." ...          The ... same doctrine was stated and applied in Tighe v ... Lowell, 119 Mass. 472, and Hunt v. Salem, 121 ... Mass. 294. These cases were decided, it is true, under a ... statute which gave a right ... ...
  • Irvine v. Greenwood
    • United States
    • South Carolina Supreme Court
    • 2 Octubre 1911
    ...such an accident happened could be held liable for the damages thereby occasioned." The same doctrine was stated and applied in Tighe v. Lowell, 119 Mass. 472, and Hunt v. Salem, 121 Mass. 294. These cases were decided, it is true, under a statute which gave a right of action to "travelers,......
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