Aiken v. Holyoke St. Ry. Co.
| Decision Date | 18 October 1901 |
| Parties | AIKEN v. HOLYOKE ST. RY. CO. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
A. L. Green and F. F. Bennett, for plaintiff.
Brooks & Hamilton, for defendant.
The accident occurred on April 20, 1898, and the suit was brought on July 6, 1898. The trial a report of which is before us seems to have been a second trial of the case, and it took place in January of the present year. The declaration is in three counts. At the close of the plaintiff's evidence the court, at the request of the defendant, and without requiring the defendant to rest, ruled that the plaintiff could not recover on the first two counts of the declaration. At the close of all the evidence the court ruled that there was no evidence to be submitted to the jury, and directed a verdict for the defendant, and, by agreement of counsel reported the case to this court. By the terms of the report if the ruling was correct the verdict is to stand; otherwise there is to be a new trial.
Strictly speaking, the ruling given at the close of all the evidence was a ruling as to the third count alone, and the report might be construed to bring here only that aspect of the case. It had not been so treated by counsel. Their briefs and arguments have been addressed to all aspects of the case,--the rulings as to the first two counts as well as to the last. We therefore assume that the report was intended to bring here all the exceptions taken at the trial in behalf of the plaintiff. While the report shows that the evidence was very contradictory, the following facts are not now disputed The plaintiff, a school boy about 6 1/2 years of age, after leaving school in the afternoon, and before reaching his home, was run over by one of the defendant's vestibuled electric cars near the intersection of two streets in the city of Holyoke. These streets crossed each other at right angles, and the course of the car was from one street into the other; and the plaintiff was run over very soon after the car had rounded the corner into the street on which the school house was situated, from which the plaintiff had been dismissed at the close of his school. After leaving school the plaintiff, with some other boys of his age, had been playing tag almost if not quite up to the time of his contact with the car; the boys using as the playground a lawn between the street and a church building standing on the corner of the two streets. The plaintiff's contention was that just before the accident he had ceased play and started to go to his home, and that when he came into collision with the car he was crossing the street upon the crosswalk at the intersection of the streets for the purpose of going to his home.
One contention of the defendant was that the plaintiff was trying to steal a ride upon the car, and that, having got upon the front step, he fell from it and was run over. Another contention of the defendant was that the plaintiff, if not trying to steal a ride, was playing tag in the street, and ran into the car while so engaged in play. The defendant also contended that the plaintiff, if neither trying to steal a ride nor playing in the street, but attempting to go to his home, ran into the car so carelessly that he could not recover for his injury. The plaintiff also contended that, even if he first came in contact with the car while he was playing in the street, after such first contact he was so placed on the car, and gave such notice of his peril to the motorman, as to make it the defendant's duty to stop the car and let the plaintiff off, and that, on the contrary, the motorman, upon seeing the plaintiff's position, and hearing his request to be let off, increased the speed of the car, and so caused him to be thrown from the car and run over. The third count of the declaration was treated at the trial and upon the argument of the case here as founded upon this contention.
Every one is aware that among the many suits brought to recover for personal injuries there are cases, of which we do not intimate that the present one is an instance, in which unjust claims are sought to be sustained by testimony which, if not wholly false or manufactured, is so colored and distorted as to tend to mislead juries and judges and to prevert justice. Yet the plaintiff in such a suit has the right to have his alleged cause of action determined by a jury, if upon any reasonable view of the conflicting evidence it can fairly be found as a fact that he was hurt while in the exercise of due care, and by the defendant's fault. If in any jury trial there seems to be danger that the jury will give an unjust verdict upon evidence which in law ought to be submitted to its decision, the proper course is to take the verdict, and then to set it aside as against the evidence, or the weight of the evidence, rather than to order a verdict. There is no justification for the latter course in a suit in which it does not appear that any wrong verdict has ever been taken. In the present case, therefore, the question for us is whether, upon any fair view of...
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Dixon v. New York, N.H. & H.R. Co.
... ... unqualifiedly without the plaintiff's consent. Banks ... v. Braman, 188 Mass. 367, 74 N.E. 594, and 192 Mass ... 162, note; Aiken v. Holyoke Street Railway, 180 ... Mass. 8, 61 N.E. 557, and 184 Mass. 269, 68 N.E. 238; ... Yancey v. Boston Elevated Railway, 205 Mass. 162, ... ...
- Aiken v. Holyoke St. Ry. Co.
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O'brien v. Hudner
...and for that reason that a child of her age was not negligent in standing where she did, and not seeing it sooner. See Aiken v. Railway Co., 180 Mass. 8, 61 N.E. 557; Butler v. Railroad Co., 177 Mass. 191, 58 N.E. Exceptions sustained. ...
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Burns v. Worcester Consol. St. Ry. Co.
... ... time, and using such judgment as boys of his age ordinarily ... possess he considered it prudent to follow. [78 N.E. 741] ... Aiken v. Holyoke Street Railway Co., 180 Mass. 8, 61 ... N.E. 557; McDermott v. Boston Elevated Railway Co., ... 184 Mass. 126, 68 N.E. 34, 100 Am. St ... ...