O'Rourke v. MacAllister
| Citation | 215 N.E.2d 794,350 Mass. 777 |
| Parties | James A. O'ROURKEJr., et al. v. John S. MacALLISTER. |
| Decision Date | 05 April 1966 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
MacLaren H. MacGregor, Boston, for plaintiffs.
Sturtevant Burr, Boston (Gilbert P. Wright, Jr., Dover, with him), for defendant.
Before WILKINS, C.J., and SPALDING, CUTTER, SPIEGEL, and REARDON, JJ.
RESCRIPT.
The plaintiffs seek recovery for injuries sustained by them as guests in an automobile owned and operated by the defendant. The defendant drove his compact-type foreign car from a parking space adjacent to a restaurant known as Maguire's Lounge in Quincy, where he and the plaintiffs had attended a prenuptial party, onto a street where he turned right and accelerated his car to approximately thirty miles an hour toward an intersecting street a hundred yards away. He was half facing toward, and conversing with, one of the plaintiffs to his right when the car headed for a pole. He was told to 'Be careful' by the second plaintiff who was in a rear seat. He then swerved sharply, narrowly missing the pole, which brought the car beyond the center line of the intersecting street, at which point he turned 'sharply back' to enter it, then sharply left. This caused his car to cross the center line of the intersecting street and sideswipe a truck stopped across and on its own side of the street about thirty-five feet in from the intersection. The plaintiffs have excepted to the allowance of a motion for a directed verdict for the defendant. There was no error for there was no showing of gross negligence. Altman v. Aronson, 231 Mass. 588, 591, 592, 121 N.E. 505, 4 A.L.R. 1185. The defendant's momentary inattention caused him to proceed too far into the intersection before making his turn. That he executed this turn badly could not be said to be more than ordinary negligence. See Castelli v. Padeni, 301 Mass. 603, 604--605, 18 N.E.2d 338, and cases cited. Compare Dinardi v. Herook, 328 Mass. 572, 573--575, 105 N.E.2d 197, and cases cited.
Exceptions overruled.
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...an operator's failure to perceive a vehicle or person on a public way amounts to gross negligence. See, e.g., O'Rourke v. MacAllister, 350 Mass. 777, 215 N.E.2d 794, 794 (1966) (inattentive driver conversing with passengers struck vehicle); Higgins v. Ricca, 338 Mass. 788, 154 N.E.2d 356, 3......
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