Gray v. Hatch

• Decision Date: 27 December 1937
• Citation: 299 Mass. 105,12 N.E.2d 71
• Parties: FRANK L. GRAY v. HAROLD C. HATCH. SAME v. ELLA MAY HATCH, executrix.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

299 Mass. 105

12 N.E.2d 71

FRANK L. GRAY v. HAROLD C. HATCH. SAME v. ELLA MAY HATCH, executrix.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Norfolk.

December 27, 1937

October 7, 1937.

Present: RUGG, C

J., FIELD, DONAHUE LUMMUS, & QUA, JJ.

Motor Vehicle Registration. Under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 90, Section 2, before its amendment by St. 1934, c.

361 an automobile was not properly registered to one residing on Baptist Corner Road, Ashfield, who received his mail by rural free delivery from

Shelburne Falls, a village seven miles away situated in other towns, on an application for registration stating his residence as Baptist Corner Road,

R. F. D.

Shelburne Falls and Ashfield as the town in which the automobile was garaged.

FIVE ACTIONS OF TORT. Writs in the first two actions in the District Court of Franklin dated January 26, 1935, and July 6, 1935; in the third and fourth actions in the First District Court of Eastern Middlesex dated February 20, 1935; and in the fifth action in the District Court of East Norfolk dated July 30 1935.

On removal of the actions to the Superior Court, they were referred to an auditor whose findings were not to be final. The actions then were heard by Williams, J., upon the auditor's reports without other evidence. The judge ordered judgments for the defendants in the first and second actions; and in the other actions he ordered judgments for the plaintiffs in the sums, respectively, of $3,500, $1,500, and $4,000. Gray alleged exceptions.

C. Fairhurst, for Frank L.

Gray.

E. Field, (R.

H. Field with him,) for the defendants Harold C.

Hatch and another.

E. P. Shaw, 3d, for the plaintiffs Ella May Hatch and another. G. E. Thompson, for the plaintiff Lillian Hatch.

QUA, J. These actions were heard together on an auditor's reports without other evidence. All arise out of a collision in Charlemont on August 14, 1934, between an automobile owned and operated by Gray and an automobile owned by Theron H Hatch, deceased, of whose will Ella May Hatch is executrix, and driven by Harold C. Hatch. Upon findings of the auditor which need not be recited here the decisive question in all the cases is whether or not the Gray automobile was legally registered.

Upon this question of registration the material findings of the auditor are these: Gray's application for registration for 1934 and likewise his certificate of registration for that year gave his place of residence as "Baptist Cornor Rd. R. F. D. Shelburne Falls." Shelburne Falls is a village situated partly in Shelburne and partly in Buckland. Gray did not live at Shelburne Falls. He lived on the road known as Baptist Corner Road at "Baptist Corner" in Ashfield, seven miles from the post office at Shelburne Falls. In order to go from Shelburne Falls to Ashfield it is necessary to pass through a part of Conway as well as a part of Buckland. Gray received his mail from the post office in Shelburne Falls by rural free delivery over Baptist Corner Road. His application for registration gave Ashfield as the municipality where the vehicle was "Garaged."

The...