Tomasunas v. Khoury

• Decision Date: 29 October 1943
• Citation: 51 N.E.2d 325,314 Mass. 754
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
• Parties: PETRONELLA TOMASUNAS v. JOSEPH J. KHOURY & another.

314 Mass. 754

51 N.E.2d 325

PETRONELLA TOMASUNAS v. JOSEPH J. KHOURY & another.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Worcester.

October 29, 1943

September 28, 1943.

Present: FIELD, C.

J., DONAHUE, QUA & DOLAN, JJ.

Snow and Ice. Nuisance. Way, Public: nuisance.

Evidence, that a public sidewalk was clear of snow and ice except for a patch of ice running across it from an adjacent building, the roof of which slanted downward and projected over the sidewalk and that water and snow had previously been seen coming from the roof onto the sidewalk at times over a period of several weeks, warranted a finding that the patch of ice was due to the projecting roof and was a nuisance created by the owner of the building toward a traveller injured by slipping thereon.

TORT. Writ in the Superior Court dated February 24, 1941. The case was tried before Dillon, J., and in this court was submitted on briefs.

H. R. Sher & C.

W. Tamulonis, for the plaintiff.

H. C. Walsh, for the defendants.

DOLAN, J. This is an action of tort to recover for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff as the result of slipping and falling on ice on the sidewalk in front of premises owned by the defendants. The case was tried to a jury and at the conclusion of the evidence the judge allowed the defendants' motion for a directed verdict, subject to the plaintiff's exceptions.

There was evidence that would have warranted the jury in finding the following facts. On January 5, 1941, at about 4 P.M. the plaintiff accompanied by another woman, walked from her house on Suffield Street, in Worcester, to the defendants' premises on Millbury Street in that city. On January 3 and 4 1941, about nine inches of snow had fallen. On January 5, the day of the accident, the weather was clear except for a few snow squalls early in the morning. On January 3 and 4, the temperature was at some time during those days thirty-two degrees. At that temperature snow becomes slush. The sidewalks on Millbury Street (a public highway) were clear of snow and ice except that a portion of the sidewalk in front of the defendants' premises "was covered by a patch or hump of ice about four feet wide and three inches high . . . [that] ran from the front wall of the defendants' building to the curbing. The ice was clear, shiny and bumpy." Otherwise the sidewalk in front of the defendants' building was "clean and clear." The plaintiff walked slowly and carefully but slipped on this accumulation of ice and fell, sustaining injuries. "The defendants' building is so constructed that the front thereof and the sidewalk join together. There is no space between the sidewalk and the building . . . [which] has on it a slanting roof which slants at a sharp angle towards the sidewalk and projects over it for a distance of . . . [at least] eighteen inches." For a period of four or five weeks before the accident water or snow had been seen coming from the roof of the building onto the sidewalk when the sun shone. The defendant Joseph testified that he had spread ashes on the sidewalk during the day that the accident occurred and the day before. Due notice of the accident was received by the defendants.

The principles of law governing the present case are well settled. It is established that "the basis of the...