Old Colony R. Co. v. Slavens

• Decision Date: 04 January 1889
• Citation: 148 Mass. 363,19 N.E. 372
• Parties: OLD COLONY R. CO. v. SLAVENS et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

148 Mass. 363

19 N.E. 372

OLD COLONY R. CO. v. SLAVENS et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

January 4, 1889

January 4, 1889

HEADNOTES

COUNSEL

Patton & Blair, for defendants.

J.H. Benton, Jr., for plaintiff.

OPINION

C. ALLEN, J.

The verdict establishes it as a fact that the defendants might have done the work of transferring and loading the mail bags, without obstructing the sidewalk as it was obstructed on the occasion of the injury to Amory. The plaintiff's regulations and provisions did not require such obstruction, and the only question before us is whether, assuming this as a fact, the plaintiff was entitled to recover; and we think the plaintiff and the defendants were not, as to each other, in pari delicto. The plaintiff was held liable to Amory, because bound to keep the sidewalk reasonably safe. But the ground of the present action is that the defendants by their negligent act exposed the plaintiff to this liability. The plaintiff's neglect to keep the sidewalk safe did not make the plaintiff a joint wrong-doer with the defendants, in any such sense as to prevent the plaintiff from recovering. Churchill v. Holt, 131 Mass. 67, 127 Mass. 165; Gray v. Gas-Light Co., 114 Mass. 149; Woburn v. Railroad Co., 109 Mass. 283; West Boylston v. Mason, 102 Mass. 341; Milford v. Holbrook, 9 Allen, 17, 23.

Exceptions overruled.