Cadman v. White

Decision Date01 December 1936
Citation5 N.E.2d 19,296 Mass. 117
PartiesCADMAN v. WHITE.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Exceptions from Superior Court, Middlesex County; Donahue, Judge.

Action of tort by Ralph A. Cadman, p. p. a., against Sarah L. White wherein there was verdict for plaintiff for $800, and defendant took exceptions.

Exceptions overruled.

B. W Taylor, of Boston, for defendant.

H. E Druker, of Boston, for plaintiff.

PIERCE, Justice.

This is an action of tort to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff, a minor, on August 24, 1931. At the conclusion of the testimony the defendant filed a motion that upon all the evidence the judge direct the jury to return a verdict for the defendant. The motion was denied and the defendant seasonably claimed an exception. The jury found for the plaintiff. The case is before this court on the defendant's exception to the denial of her motion.

The reported evidence warranted a finding of the facts which follow: The accident happened August 24, 1931, on a fair day and in the early afternoon, on Williams Street in Watertown, Massachusetts. At the point of the accident Williams Street is about twenty feet wide, and there is no cross walk or intersecting way. On the south side of the street there is a sidewalk, about three feet wide, without a curb. At the time of the accident the plaintiff, who was two years and eleven months old, had crossed Williams Street from north to south, and was alone. There is no evidence to explain how he chanced to be on the north side of the street when he crossed to the south side thereof, or of any neglect of persons who had him in custody.

A witness testified that he was driving a truck, and had followed the defendant's automobile until and after it entered Williams Street, going westerly on that street on the right hand side at about twelve miles an hour; that the witness was about forty feet behind this automobile that he saw the plaintiff walk, not run, across the street from the right side, when his truck was about three hundred feet distant from the plaintiff; that the defendant's automobile, then on the right hand side of the street, swerved to the left side and struck the plaintiff as he was about to step on the sidewalk there. This witness further testified that he had watched the occupants of the defendant's automobile and saw them looking out to the left side of the automobile. The...

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