Brennan v. Employers' Liab. Assur. Corp.

• Decision Date: 29 January 1913
• Citation: 100 N.E. 633,213 Mass. 365
• Parties: BRENNAN v. EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY ASSUR. CORPORATION; BRENNAN v. L. P. SOULE & SON CO.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

213 Mass. 365

100 N.E. 633

BRENNAN

v.EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY ASSUR. CORPORATION;

BRENNAN

v.L. P. SOULE & SON CO.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

Jan. 29, 1913.

Report from Superior Court, Suffolk County; Marcus Morton, Judge.

Two actions by James Brennan, prosecuted after his death, by Mary E. Brennan, his administratrix, one against the Employers' Liability Assurance Corporation and the other against the L. P. Soule & Son Company. The court directed a verdict for defendant in each case, and reported the case for the full court. New trial ordered.

James Brennan testified as follows: ‘* * * Q. How many days would you say it was, the first visit that you made to the insurance people-how many days would you say it was before you signed the release? A. Oh, three or four. Q. Three or four days? A. Three or four. Q. So it was three or four days before the 25th of July when you first saw them? A. Yes, sir. * * * Q. Whom did you see the first time you went over there? A. Mr. Linscott. Q. Did you have some talk with Mr. Linscott? A. Yes. Q. Will you tell the court and jury the conversation you had with Mr. Linscott? A. Yes. Mr. Linscott says to me, ‘I will give you’-He says, ‘You are Brennan?’ I says, ‘Yes, sir.’ ‘Well,’ he says, ‘I will give you,’ he says, ‘$200.’ So I shook my head; I said, ‘That will never pay my bills for the time I am laid up’-in my own mind. He says, ‘I will give you $300.’ I says, ‘I won't take it.’ So the doctor and I walked to the door same as we go through that door there, and I says, ‘Doctor, what do you think?’ * * * A. I went back anyway again. I says, ‘Will you make it any more?’ He says, ‘No.’ ‘Well,’ I says, ‘I won't take it.’ ‘Now,’ he says, ‘Brennan, you are a poor man, and I will leave this open-this offer open for you for two weeks.’ I think it was two weeks he said. ‘You come in,’ he says; ‘but I won't be here; I am going away. I am going away and I will leave this offer open for you for two weeks. Come in and take it,’ he says, ‘any time you have a mind to.’ I went home and thought the thing over-- Q. Just a minute. Before you get to that, just bring out all the conversation. A. ‘Now,’ he says, ‘you will be all right in six weeks' time now’-that was about six weeks after the accident; that made something like-it might be a day or two more, you know, or less. And he says, ‘You will be all right in six weeks' time now. So you are doing pretty well,’ he says. ‘You get a hundred a month; that is more than you can earn, that is eleven or twelve dollars a week.’ I says, ‘What if I am not able to go to work then at the end of six weeks? I went to,’ I says, ‘to maintain my family.’ ‘Well, now,’ he says, ‘if you are not all right,’ he says ‘come back and see me, but I am sure you will have no occasion, I will make it right with you; I will make it right with you, but I am sure,’ he says, ‘you will have no occasion.’ It is three years the 10th of last June. Q. Now whether or not you took the money then, Mr. Brennan? A. No, I didn't take the money. I went back in about four days, I tell you, afterwards, and took the money, because I needed it for my family. * * * Q. I know, but as we have got the transaction, Mr. Linscott told you, ‘If you are not all right at the end of three months-a hundred dollars a month, $300--’ A. Yes, sir. Q. -You come back and he would make it all right? A. Yes. Q. Then you left? A. Yes. Q. When did you next go into that office again? A. I think about four-three or four days after; I won't say to a day. Q. Did you see Linscott there then? A. No. Q. Now what was said by you to anybody that you met there then? A. They didn't say nothing, only just gave me the money. Q. And what was done? A. I couldn't tell you exactly what was done because I didn't pay no attention. All I took was the money and I went away. Q. Well, didn't you? A. They read some paper. I signed the paper; I gave them a receipt of some kind. Q. You gave them a receipt? A. I gave them a receipt for the money. * * *'James P....