Lynch v. City of Springfield

• Decision Date: 20 October 1899
• Citation: 54 N.E. 871,174 Mass. 430
• Parties: LYNCH v. CITY OF SPRINGFIELD.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

174 Mass. 430

54 N.E. 871

LYNCH v. CITY OF SPRINGFIELD.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Hampden.

October 20, 1899

COUNSEL

J.B. Carroll and W.H. McClintock, for plaintiff.

E.H Lathrop, for defendant.

OPINION

LORING J.

The plaintiff, while riding a bicycle, was injured by a collision with a horse and wagon belonging to the water department of the defendant city. There was conflicting evidence as to due care on the part of the plaintiff and negligence on the part of the driver of the horse and wagon. It appeared that the water department of the defendant city was created by statute, and was managed by commissioners elected by the city council; that municipal bonds had been issued to pay for the construction of the works, and that these bonds were not yet due; that water was furnished to the inhabitants at fixed rates, paid for by consumers, and collected by the tax collector of the city; that all these bills of the department were paid when approved by the auditor and mayor of the city and that no money was paid or bills collected by the commissioners. These rentals were used, first, in paying the expenses of conducting the works, and the surplus, if any, in making a sinking fund for the payment of the water bonds. In the year 1896, in which the accident occurred, there was a surplus net from the operation of the water department amounting to $31,011.72. It further appeared that at the time of the accident the horse and wagon in question were in charge of an employé of the water department, whose wages were paid by the city treasurer from receipts of the water department, and that this employé was engaged in the necessary business of the water department. The presiding justice refused to give the following rulings, which were asked for by the defendant:

"The defendant city cannot be held to be engaged in a commercial enterprise because of the maintenance of a public water supply solely for domestic and fire purposes, managed by a board of water commissioners who are elected by the city council, and charging the citizens rentals for the use of said water.

"The maintenance by the defendant of its system of public waterworks for the use of the public, and for fire and domestic purposes, for the construction of which a debt exists, and a sinking fund for the payment thereof, which is provided for by the income from rentals for the use of said water, is not an engagement on the part of

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