Jordan v. Old Colony Street Railway Co.
Jordan v. Old Colony Street Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
These are two actions of tort. The first is brought by a minor, by her next friend, for personal injuries sustained by her while a passenger on the defendant’s road. The second action is brought by the father of the plaintiff in the first case to recover for the loss of her services. At the close of all the evidence the defendant asked the judge to rule that the plaintiffs could not recover. The judge refused so to rule; the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff in each case; and the cases are before us on the defendant’s exception to the refusal to rule as requested. We shall consider only the first case, as no question is made as to the right of the plaintiff in the second case to recover if the verdict is sustained in the first case.
The accident happened about nine o’clock in the evening of August 7,1903. The defendant had a single track electric road*,
We are of opinion that there was evidence for the jury upon the question of negligence in the management of the south bound car. The motorman of the car testified that it was his practice “ when approaching the switch to slow down pretty well and steady his car; that on this occasion he did not notice that the switch was open until he was within twenty feet of it ”; and he does not pretend that he did anything until then. He admits that the collision took place eighty or ninety feet from the north end of the switch; while the motorman of the other car puts the point of collision at eighty or a hundred feet. There was also evidence that motormen had been warned by the superintendent of the defendant company to have their cars under control when approaching a switch. In addition to this the motorman of the car on the turnout testified that he saw the south bound car fifteen hundred feet away, while the motorman of the other car does not appear to have seen the car on the turnout until he had passed the switch. The evidence was contradictory on the question whether the rails on the turnout were slippery or not.
On all the evidence we are of opinion that the ruling asked for was rightly refused; and that the case was properly submitted to the jury.
Exceptions overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Elizabeth A. Jordan v. Old Colony Street Railway Company Cornelius Jordan v. Same
- Status
- Published