Gould v. Boston & Maine Railroad
Gould v. Boston & Maine Railroad
Opinion of the Court
This is an action of tort brought by the plaintiff as administrator of the estate of James W. Gould, to
The plaintiff testified in his direct examination in substance as follows: On November 29, 1924, he and his father, the intestate, left Concord about five o’clock in the afternoon in an automobile and travelled in a southerly direction. When he left Concord it was “snowing moderately” and was dark. They followed an electric car until they came to a fork in the road, the car turned to the right, and they went straight ahead and travelled down into Hookset. The windshield became clogged and the plaintiff drove the automobile to the right side of the road so that his father might get out and clean the windshield as it was then snowing very heavily. Just as his father stepped out the plaintiff saw an electric car approaching and he warned his father, saying, “Look out for the car.” He then proceeded to move the automobile to the opposite side of the road because it looked as if he were in the way of the car. He paused for a few seconds and when his father did not come to him he got out and found him lying in the street. Two or three inches of snow had fallen which had covered the highway, and he could not see any street car tracks at the place where he came to a stop and did not know they were there; he saw no signs of previous traffic in the highway. The automobile he was driving had a left hand drive. His father had been seated on the front seat on the plaintiff’s right. He pulled over to the right side of the road when he stopped so that if there was any traffic there would be room for it to pass. He left his motor running all
One Raymond, a witness called by the plaintiff, testified that he did not see the accident, but saw people gathered at a point between eighty and one hundred yards south of the gas station and probably about forty-five yards north of the farm house; that the electric car came to a stop directly opposite the gas station; that it was snowing hard and about
The motorman testified that he was probably one hundred yards or a little more from the automobile when he first saw its headlights; that when he first saw it he thought it was coming toward him; that when he was a little over two hundred feet from it he learned that it was stationary; that with his arc light on he could see ahead of him a distance of two hundred feet; that he thought it was close to the tracks, and he reduced the speed of his car; that he slowed down gradually as he had plenty of time, within a distance of about the length of a car from the automobile which would be almost forty-four feet; that when he saw the deceased was three or four feet from the rail he sounded two short blasts on the whistle and started to pull by the automobile and slightly increased his speed; that up to about the length of a car away from the automobile was the first time he decided he could clear it; that when he was about fifty feet from the automobile he turned off the headlight; that he then had only his incandescent light; that he saw the deceased just as the front end of the trolley car reached a point near the rear mudguard on the automobile; that the automobile had started and had travelled not over three feet when the electric car passed it; that he had not seen Gould before that time, and that after passing him he brought his car to a stop and saw him lying at the side of the road five or six feet from the track. There was other evidence which tended to corroborate the motorman.
It could have been found that, owing to the darkness and the snow upon the track, neither the plaintiff nor his father had any knowledge of the fact that the street railway track extended along the side of the highway at the place of the accident; that as soon as the car appeared in sight of the plaintiff he moved his automobile a sufficient distance from the track to allow the street car to pass. There is no evidence to show whether the deceased saw the approaching trolley car. Nor is there any evidence to show whether he heard the warning given by the plaintiff to look out for the car. What he was doing at the time he
The question whether the motorman was negligent was properly submitted to the jury. There was evidence that when the plaintiff first stopped his automobile and the deceased alighted to wipe the windshield the electric car was two hundred yards away; that at that time the automobile was so close to the inner rail that the plaintiff moved it to the opposite side of the road. The motorman testified that he first saw the headlights of the automobile when he was a hundred yards or more from it; that when he was a little more than two hundred feet away he learned that it had stopped, and he turned off his headlight fifty feet from the automobile. He admitted he saw the deceased as the front end of the trolley car reached approximately the rear mudguard of the automobile and when the latter began to move. There was evidence that the speed of the car was not reduced as it passed the automobile, but that the car was travelling at a speed of about twenty-five miles an hour. The jury could have found that he should have reduced the speed of his car, and if necessary come to a full stop in time to have avoided striking the deceased when the motorman, as he testified, saw this automobile was stopped near the track two hundred feet ahead of him. Whether he saw the deceased, or in the exercise of reasonable care ought to have seen him in time to have avoided striking him, was a question of fact to be decided by the jury. Austin v. Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, 269 Mass. 420, 423, and cases cited.
At a previous trial of this case upon similar evidence as is here presented it was held by this court that the case
The plaintiff testified, subject to the defendant’s exception, that as the trolley car came toward him it was travel-ling at a speed of twenty-five miles an hour. The evidence was properly admitted and the exception must be overruled. Johnston v. Bay State Street Railway, 222 Mass. 583. Creedon v. Galvin, 226 Mass. 140, 143. Mahoney v. Gooch, 246 Mass. 567, 569. The plaintiff also testified that the deceased had told him that he obtained time and a quarter for his overtime from his employer. The Pub. Sts. of New Hampshire, c. 191, § 12 (Pub. Laws, c. 302, § 12), provides that in an action for negligently causing death the earning capacity of the decedent may properly be considered as an element of damages. The evidence that the decedent received an additional amount for overtime work was material on the issue of his earning capacity. No error appears in the admission of this testimony. See Dillon v. Hudson, Pelham & Salem Electric Railway, 73 N. H. 367; Morrell v. Gobeil, 84 N. H. 150.
The defendant excepted to the refusal of the judge to give the following instruction: “The plaintiff is bound by his testimony of the happening of the accident.” This instruction could not properly have been given. This testimony of the plaintiff was to be considered by the jury together with the testimony of the other witnesses, from which it was the duty of the jury to find the facts in issue between the parties upon the entire evidence and reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom. The cases brought to recover for personal injuries, cited by the defendant, which hold that when a plaintiff testifies to facts which plainly show that he was not in the exercise of due care he cannot recover, Will v. Boston Elevated Railway, 247 Mass. 250, 251, Fortune v. New York, New Haven & Hartford
The trial judge instructed the jury upon the question of damages under the death statute of New Hampshire (Pub. Laws, c. 302, § 12), that in assessing damages the living expenses of the decedent’s wife while she was living with him were not to be considered in appraising the loss to the decedent’s estate. The defendant’s exception to this instruction cannot be sustained. The instruction was in accordance with the terms of the statute, and in conformity to the decisions of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. Imbriani v. Anderson, 76 N. H. 491. Morrell v. Gobeil, 84 N. H. 150.
As no error of law appears in the conduct of the trial, the entry must be
Exceptions overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Fernald N. Gould, administrator v. Boston and Maine Railroad
- Cited By
- 1 case
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- Published