Enman v. Trs. of Boston Univ.
| Decision Date | 03 February 1930 |
| Citation | 170 N.E. 43,270 Mass. 299 |
| Parties | ENMAN v. TRUSTEES OF BOSTON UNIVERSITY. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Exceptions from Superior Court, Suffolk County; Sisk, Judge.
Action by Eleanor Enman against the Trustees of Boston University. Verdict was directed for defendant, and plaintiff brings exceptions. Exceptions overruled.
J. J. Donahue and C. J. Redmond, both of Boston, for plaintiff.
K. C. Parker, of Boston, for defendant.
This is an action for personal injuries received by the plaintiff from falling on ice upon the sidewalk of Mt. Vernon street, a public highway in Boston. The defendant was at the time of the accident, and for 10 years prior thereto had been, the owner of the building abutting on the sidewalk on which the plaintiff fell. It is a charitable corporation chartered by acts of the Massachusetts Legislature, and the building in question was used by the defendant as a dormitory for students in the School of Theology, one of its departments, and was used solely for the charitable purposes of the corporation. Students living therein made no payment for the use of their rooms, and the building was not at any time used to produce revenue.
At the close of the plaintiff's evidence the defendant rested. Its motion for a directed verdict was granted subject to the plaintiff's exception. No question was raised as to the plaintiff's due care.
There was evidence from which the jury could find that the line of the main building came to the sidewalk line of Mt. Vernon street and that about 10 or 12 feet above the sidewalk a bay window 8 or 10 feet wide projected from the building over the sidewalk 1 1/2 to 2 or more feet; that the roof of the window sloped toward the street, with no gutter or coping around it; that the plaintiff was injured by slipping on ice which was formed on the sidewalk from water which came from the roof of the bay window; that similar conditions of ice on the sidewalk from the same cause had existed after snowstorms for many years. The plaintiff offered to show that the defendant at the time of the accident was the holder of a policy of insurance to indemnify it against loss caused by accidents originating from snow and ice, under which the limit of liability for one person was in excess of the ad damnum in the writ. The existence of the policy was admitted, but the evidence was excluded subject to the plaintiff's exception.
The plaintiff states in her brief that the only...
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