Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1907

Sullivan v. Rowe

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · Decided February 28, 1907 · Loring

194 Mass. 500; 80 N.E. 459; 1907 Mass. LEXIS 1013

Cases that cite this one

8 later published cases cite this decision.

Erickson v. Meier & Frank Co. (Or. 1932)
Colorado Springs & Interurban Railway Co. v. Reese (Colo. 1917)
Wyldes ex rel. McLaughlin v. Patterson (N.D. 1915)
Lucid v. E. I. Du Pont De Nemours Powder Co. (9th Cir. 1912)
Graaf v. Vulcan Iron Works (Wash. 1910)
McNamara v. Boston & Maine Railroad (Mass. 1909)
Doe v. Boston & Worcester Street Railway Co. (Mass. 1907)
Iarussi v. Missouri Pac. Ry. Co. (U.S. Circuit Court for the Northern District of Illnois 1907)

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Loring, J.

In our opinion the falling of the buffer was under the circumstances in itself evidence of negligence. This disposes of the fifth request and also of the request that the jury be directed to find for the defendant. Although the plaintiff in his evidence went beyond showing that the buffer fell, he did not go far enough to deprive him of the case made by the falling of the buffer. The case in this respect comes within Cassady v. Old Colony Street Railway, 184 Mass. 156.

*504Taking the instruction as a whole, it is not subject to the complaint now made, that the jury were not properly instructed as to the burden of proving negligence.

Evidence of the condition of the bolt, immediately after thy accident was admissible.

Exceptions overruled.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.