Harris v. Gee

• Decision Date: 03 January 1952
• Parties: HARRIS v. GEE.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 779

102 N.E.2d 779

328 Mass. 213

HARRIS v. GEE.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Bristol.

Argued Oct. 22, 1951.

Decided Jan. 3, 1952.

W. A. Torphy, Fall River, M. C. Epstein, Fall River, for plaintiff.

W. J. Fenton, Taunton, M. A. Westgate, Fall River, for defendant.

Before QUA, C. J., and LUMMUS, WILKINS, WILLIAMS and COUNIHAN, JJ.

WILLIAMS, Justice.

In this action of tort to recover compensation for personal injuries there was a verdict for the original plaintiff, Emanuel Harris. The case comes here on the defendant's exception to the denial of his motion for a directed verdict. Harris having died since the trial, the executrix of his will has been substituted as party plaintiff.

There was evidence substantially as follows: The plaintiff (referring to the decedent) was injured on January 17, 1946, by falling on a stairway leading from the first floor to the basement of a certain building called the Archer Building, located at the corner of Rock and Granite streets in Fall River, and owned by the defendant. At the time of the accident the plaintiff was and for some years prior thereto had been, a tenant of the defendant in an apartment located in a nearby building. The terms of the rental agreement required that heat and hot water be furnished. At the time of the agreement the defendant told the plaintiff that if he had any trouble with the heat or hot water to 'contact' the janitor who could be found either in the basement of an adjoining building from which heat was supplied to the plaintiff's apartment or in the basement of the Archer Building. Thereafter, the plaintiff on many occasions went to the basement of the Archer Building to speak to the defendant's janitor and used the stairs on which the accident occurred. These stairs were eighteen in number, of wooden construction, and ran straight down the side of the building until near the bottom of the flight where the last three stairs turned to the right. This turn of the stairs is shown on a photograph annexed to the bill of exceptions. At about 2 P.M. on the day of the accident the plaintiff was descending these stairs in order to 'contact' the janitor in the basement and complain about the hot water in his apartment. He testified that as 'he made a right turn to descend the last three stairs he noticed a barrier in front of him. He was still going, but in the second that followed he saw the barrier and something hit him. He did not see what hit him. He was thrown to the floor after he got hit,' and was unconscious after the fall. On regaining consciousness, he found himself 'sprawled' on the bottom step of the stairs and saw empty ash barrels scattered and overturned on the basement floor. At some time on that day, previous to the accident, the defendant's janitor had placed a wooden barrel on the second step of the stairs up from the basement floor. As the plaintiff descended the stairs and made the turn to the right, this barrel was on his left. There were approximately thirty-two inches between the barrel and the end of a wooden partition which carried a hand rail and extended along the right of the stairway as far down as the turn above mentioned.

On this evidence it could be found that the plaintiff had been invited to go to the basement of the Archer Building in order to talk with the janitor on matters connected with his tenancy,...