Johnson v. Berkshire St. Ry. Co.
| Decision Date | 01 November 1935 |
| Citation | 292 Mass. 311,198 N.E. 154 |
| Parties | JOHNSON v. BERKSHIRE ST. RY. CO. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Action of tort by Mary Johnson against the Berkshire Street Railway Company. From an order of the Appellate Division dismissing a report by Hibbard, J., who found for the plaintiff in the sum of $300, defendant appeals.
Order dismissing report affirmed.
Appeal from Appellate Division of District Court, Western District Berkshire County; Hibbard, Judge.
W. J Donovan, of Adams, for appellant.
P. J Genovese, of Pittsfield, for appellee.
The only question argued is whether there was any evidence to support the finding that the defendant was negligent.
There was evidence that the plaintiff, a middle-aged woman, boarded the defendant's motorbus at a regular stopping place in Pittsfield; that she had entered the bus, taken one step down the aisle ‘ opposite the first seats' and had grasped the back of one of those seats, ‘ when the operator started the bus with a sharp and quick jerk and a swing to the left; that by reason thereof, she lost her grip upon the seat, fell against the side of the second seat and thence to the floor’ ; that the sudden quick start affected two other passengers, ‘ their heads being thrown back with an emphatic snap or jerk’ ; that the plaintiff ‘ received severe injuries to her side and back and strained the sacro-iliac region’ and that she remained in the hospital twelve days.
The principle is well established that where a passenger in a street car seeks to recover damages for personal injury resulting from a sudden jerk or lurch, he must carry the burden of proving that the movement of the vehicle was so far in excess of that ordinarily to be expected in normal operation as to lay a foundation for a reasonable inference of negligence. He must show this by evidence of acts or of physical facts and not merely by the accumulation of adjectives and adverbs denoting violence. Work v. Boston Elevated Railway Co., 207 Mass. 447, 93 N.E. 693. The same burden rests upon a passenger in a motorbus. Dorman v. Worcester Consolidated Street Railway, 277 Mass. 95, 177 N.E. 812. See McRae v. Boston Elevated Railway Co., 276 Mass. 82, 84, 176 N.E. 773.
Beyond the principle just stated, the question becomes one of degree in each case, and it is impossible to lay down any rule of general application. Not a few cases are so close that opinions may well differ. This is one of them. However, we think the evidence went beyond the mere...
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