Post v. Belmont Country Club, Inc., 60 Mass. App. Ct. 645 (Mass. App. Div. 3/19/2004), No. 02-P-304.
| Decision Date | 19 March 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 02-P-304. |
| Citation | 60 Mass. App. Ct. 645 |
| Parties | SARAH DANA POST, executrix,<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL> <I>v.</I> BELMONT COUNTRY CLUB, INC. |
| Court | Massachusetts Appellate Division |
Present: PERRETTA, GELINAS, & DUFFLY, JJ.
Practice, Civil, Summary judgment. Voluntary Association. Release. Indemnity. Contract, Release from liability, Indemnity. Limitations, Statute of.
A Superior Court judge properly ruled that the estate of a member of the defendant country club (club) was required by an indemnity clause in the club's handbook to indemnify the club for losses sustained as a result of an injury the decedent incurred while driving a golf cart on the club's course which resulted in his death, where the decedent was contractually bound by the club's rules and by-laws; additionally, such agreement was neither ambiguous nor a contract of adhesion requiring strict construction against the club as drafter, and the clause's nature as indemnifying a tortfeasor did not support a strict construction of that clause against the club. [646-652]
In a wrongful death suit including claims for conscious pain and suffering on the part of a country club member who died from injuries incurred while driving a golf cart on the club's course, the club's counterclaim for indemnification, based on a provision in the club's handbook, was not barred by G. L. c. 197 § 9, where the statute was one of limitation, not a statute of repose, and the club's filing of the counterclaim related back to the filing of the complaint, within one year of the decedent's death, and was thus timely. [653-654]
CIVIL ACTION commenced in the Superior Court Department on December 2, 1997.
Motions for summary judgment were heard by Julian T. Houston, J., and Regina L. Quinlan, J., and a motion for entry of judgment was heard by Houston, J.
Richard John Shea for the plaintiff.
Joanne L. Goulka for the defendant.
The estate of John Post (estate) appeals two grants
1. Of the estate of John Post.
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