Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1911

Scannell v. Boston Elevated Railway Co.

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · Decided April 4, 1911 · Sheldon

208 Mass. 513; 94 N.E. 696; 1911 Mass. LEXIS 867

Cases that cite this one

48 later published cases cite this decision. The 25 that cite it most often are listed here.

Clifton v. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (Massachusetts Superior Court 2000)
Nardone v. LVI Services, Inc. (Mass. App. Ct. 2018)
Lou ex rel. Chen v. Otis Elevator Co. (Massachusetts Superior Court 2008)
Wyatt (Mass. 1998)
Moose v. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Mass. App. Ct. 1997)
Turnpike Motors, Inc. v. Newbury Group, Inc. (Mass. 1992)
Commonwealth v. Kostka (Mass. 1976)
Commonwealth v. Mutina (Mass. 1975)
Woronoco Hydro, LLC v. Woronoco Realty, LLC. (Mass. App. Ct. 2017)
Bailey v. Another (Mass. App. Ct. 2017)
Stiles v. Demoulas Super Markets, Inc. (Massachusetts Superior Court 2016)
Forbes v. D&D Mulch & Landscape, Inc. (Mass. Dist. Ct., App. Div. 2015)
D&D Realty Trust v. Borgeson (Mass. Dist. Ct., App. Div. 2015)
Passatempo v. McMenimen (Mass. App. Ct. 2014)
A.C. Vaccaro, Inc. v. Vaccaro (Mass. App. Ct. 2011)
Howard v. Brassard (Massachusetts Superior Court 2010)
Jimenez v. Health Alliance Hospitals, Inc. (Massachusetts Superior Court 2009)
Leahy v. Febo (Massachusetts Superior Court 2009)
Harris v. Beatty (Mass. Dist. Ct., App. Div. 2009)
Mustapha v. DaimlerChrysler Co. (Massachusetts Superior Court 2008)
Adkins v. Salisbury Nursing & Rehabilitaion Center, Inc. (Massachusetts Superior Court 2008)
Wendorff v. Maldonado (Massachusetts Superior Court 2008)
Quinn v. Mar-Lees Seafood, LLC (Mass. App. Ct. 2007)
Allen v. Singer (Massachusetts Superior Court 2005)
DeSantis v. Commonwealth Energy System (Massachusetts Superior Court 2005)

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

Sheldon, J.

It is the right and duty of a judge presiding at the trial of a civil case to set aside the verdict of the jury when in his judgment it is so greatly against the weight of the evidence as to induce in his mind the strong belief that it was not due to a careful consideration of the evidence, but that it was the product of bias, misapprehension or prejudice. R. L. c. 173, § 112. Aiken v. Holyoke Street Railway, 180 Mass. 8, 11, 12. In the case at bar, the plaintiff herself was the only witness who testified to the happening of the accident by which she claimed to have been injured. If under the circumstances her story seemed to the judge to be so improbable and absurd that *515it could not command the credence of any right minded men, he had the right in the exercise of his judicial discretion to set aside the verdict in her favor. We cannot revise the exercise of his discretion. Parker v. Griffith, 172 Mass. 87, 88. Hayward v. Langmaid, 181 Mass. 426, 427. Greene v. Farlow, 138 Mass. 146, 147. Welsh v. Milton Water Co. 200 Mass. 409, 411. Loveland v. Band, 200 Mass. 142.

Exceptions overruled.

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