Todd v. Winslow
| Decision Date | 04 April 1932 |
| Citation | 180 N.E. 521,278 Mass. 588 |
| Parties | TODD v. WINSLOW. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Report from Superior Court, Suffolk County; Alonzo R. Weed, Judge.
Action by Laura C. D. Todd against Herbert F. Winslow. Verdict for defendant, and case reported.
Judgment for defendant.
G. I. Cohen, of Boston, for plaintiff.
This is an action for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff in a building controlled by the defendant, resulting from an alleged defective condition of the premises and an alleged negligent failure to light a common hallway.
The plaintiff on the day of the accident went to the building to transact business as a customer of a tenant on the second floor who occupied under a lease which contained a provision that the tenant might have the use free of charge, in common with others, of toilet rooms and elevators in the building, ‘but at the risk of the Lessee and without liability on the part of the Lessor for damages, and the Lessee covenants to make no claim at any time against the Lessor for such damages.’ The plaintiff, after being in the tenant's room a few moments, as a result of a talk with the tenant went into the corridor and down the hall to the ladies' room. As she walked along it was light. When she turned into a corridor running in another direction it became darker. The door of the ladies' room at the end was opened and someone came out. The opening of the door made the corridor light enough for her to see the rest of the way. She stepped up about six or eight inches to enter the room. When she came from the ladies' room the door, having a spring on it, closed behind her and caused her to go out quickly. Her foot ‘slurred’ on the step and in going down the step from the room she had to throw her hands out to catch herself from falling and struck the wall on the left, causing pain in her shoulder. She noticed that the place where her foot ‘slurred’ seemed to be soapy and not well cleaned, she saw the print of her heel as it ‘slurred’ on the elevation of the step as she came out, and the condition she described was everywhere on the floor right near the door on the elevation. The closing of the door behind her made the hallway darker. In redirect examination she testified that the cause of her going forward was the slipping of her heel on the soap, and the darkness. There was no testimony as to the hour of the accident.
The defendant's secretary testified that the superintendent of the building was instructed to and did give tenants keys to toilets when leases were signed. The testimony tended to prove that the elevators were started at 7:30 each morning and that the toilet rooms were used by tenants and their customers.
The defendant's porter, called by the plaintiff, testified that he was accustomed to clean the ladies' toilet room with mop, soap and water; that he did this on...
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Peirce v. Hunnewell
...its care, as in Hunter v. Goldstein, 267 Mass. 183, 166 N. E. 577;Prushensky v. Pucilowski, 269 Mass. 477, 169 N. E. 422;Todd v. Winslow, 278 Mass. 588, 180 N. E. 521, and McBreen v. Collins (Mass.) 187 N. E. 591. They do not argue, either, that the plaintiff was negligent as matter of law.......
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Peirce v. Hunnewell
... ... its care, as in Hunter v. Goldstein, 267 Mass. 183, ... Prushensky v. Pucilowski, 269 Mass. 477 , Todd ... v. Winslow, 278 Mass. 588, and McBreen v ... Collins, 284 Mass. 253 ... They do not argue, either, that ... the plaintiff was negligent as ... ...
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Topjian v. Boston Casing Co.
...of the defendant. Whether, if found to exist, it was a cause or a mere condition of the accident was a question of fact. Todd v. Winslow, 278 Mass. 588, 180 N. E. 521. It could not rightly have been ruled as matter of law that the condition of the stairway at the time of the accident was de......
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Rosenthal v. Cent. Garage of Lynn, Inc.
...the stairway. Hanna v. Shaw, 244 Mass. 57, 138 N. E. 247;Cartoof v. F. W. Woolworth Co., 262 Mass. 367, 368, 160 N. E. 109;Todd v. Winslow (Mass.) 180 N. E. 521. The evidence would not warrant the finding that a negligent act of the defendant's employees was the cause of the greasy substanc......