Perry v. Chipouras
| Decision Date | 03 May 1946 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
| Parties | ESTHER L. PERRY v. GEORGE P. CHIPOURAS & another. |
February 6, 1946.
Present: FIELD, C.
J., QUA, DOLAN WILKINS, & SPALDING, JJ.
Insurance, Motor vehicle liability insurance.
Personal injuries sustained by a traveller on a sidewalk through tripping on a short length of rope which the owner of a motor truck, parked at the curb, had negligently dropped onto the sidewalk in unloading the truck and which was not attached or intrinsically related to the truck, were not within the coverage of a policy of compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance issued to the owner and conforming to G. L. (Ter.
Ed.) c. 90, Section 34A, as amended.
BILL IN EQUITY filed in the Superior Court with a writ of summons and attachment dated August 5, 1944.
The case was heard by Walsh, J.
D. J. Kelly, (N.
F. Fermoyle with him,) for the defendant Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company.
L. B. Newman, (F.
E. Gillen with him,) for the plaintiff.
This bill in equity by the holder of an unsatisfied judgment in tort for personal injuries against the defendant Chipouras seeks to reach and apply the obligation of the defendant Massachusetts Bonding and Insurance Company under a policy of motor vehicle liability insurance issued to Chipouras. See G L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 175, Section 113, and c. 214, Section 3 (10). The case was heard upon a statement of agreed facts, which meets the requirements of a case stated. G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 231, Section 126. The bill was taken pro confesso against Chipouras. The insurance company appeals from a decree against it.
Chipouras was in the business of buying and selling second hand cardboard boxes. On August 19, 1942, his truck, registered in this Commonwealth, was parked close to and parallel with the curb in front of his place of business on Albany Street, Boston. The truck contained boxes, some of which held, or had on them, short lengths or loops of rope. Chipouras was removing the boxes through the rear opening of the truck and was placing them in stacks on the sidewalk, preliminary to bundling and carrying the stacks into his cellar. In so doing he negligently suffered some short lengths and loops of rope to drop off or out of the boxes onto the sidewalk. While Chipouras was thus engaged, the plaintiff, a pedestrian on the sidewalk, tripped on rope which had so dropped, and was hurt. None of the rope was physically attached to the truck. The motor vehicle liability policy was "in conformity with" G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 90, Section 34A, as amended and c. 175, Section 113A, as amended. Such a policy is defined in Section 34A, as amended, as "a policy of liability insurance which provides indemnity for or protection to the insured . . . against loss by reason of the liability to pay damages to others for bodily injuries . . . sustained . . . by any person . . . [with exceptions not here material] arising out of the ownership, operation,...
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