Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1940

Cambria v. Jeffery

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · Decided October 21, 1940 · Lummtjs

307 Mass. 49; 29 N.E.2d 555; 1940 Mass. LEXIS 981

Cases that cite this one

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

Home Owners Federal Savings & Loan Ass'n v. Northwestern Fire & Marine Insurance (Mass. 1968)
Torrington Tax Collector, LLC v. Riley (Conn. App. Ct. 2024)
Rudow v. Fogel (Mass. 1978)
Allen Allison v. United States (D.C. Cir. 1969)
Hutchinson v. Maiwurm (Iowa 1968)
Shelley v. Gipson (Tenn. 1966)
Moore v. United States (District Court, W.D. Virginia 1964)
Rios v. Davis (Tex. App. 1963)
Bee Mach. Co. v. Freeman (District Court, D. Massachusetts 1941)
ARACELI ARGUELLO & Another v. DRAPER PROPERTIES, INC. (Mass. App. Ct. 2024)
Bannister v. Commonwealth (Mass. 1991)
Petition of the Department of Social Services to Dispense With Consent to Adoption (Mass. 1981)
Rogers v. American Manufacturers Mutual Insurance (Mass. Dist. Ct., App. Div. 1980)
Boyd v. Jamaica Plain Co-Operative Bank (Mass. App. Ct. 1979)
Maze v. Mihalovich (Mass. App. Ct. 1979)
Rudow v. Fogel (Mass. App. Ct. 1978)
Gidwani v. Wasserman (Mass. 1977)
Albano v. Jordan Marsh Co. (Mass. App. Ct. 1977)
Maher v. General Motors Corp. (Mass. 1976)
Adams, Harkness & Hill, Inc. v. Northeast Realty Corp. (Mass. 1972)
Kiefer v. Boetti (Mass. Dist. Ct., App. Div. 1969)
Attorney General v. A Book Named "Naked Lunch" (Mass. 1966)
Henchey v. Cox (Mass. 1965)
Collura v. Collura (Mass. 1965)
Viera Sosa v. Puerto Rico Racing Commission (Supreme Court of Puerto Rico 1960)

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

Lummtjs, J.

Two automobiles, one owned by the plaintiff Cambria and operated by his servant, the other owned and operated by the defendant Jeffery, had a collision.

Jeffery brought in a District Court an action of tort for alleged negligence against Cambria to recover for bodily injury and damage to Jeffery’s automobile. The judge found that the collision was caused by negligence of both operators, and therefore judgment was rendered in favor of the then defendant Cambria.

*50Afterwards the present action of tort, for alleged negligence of Jeffery causing damage to Cambria’s automobile, was tried. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff Cambria for $838.35; but the judge under leave reserved (G. L. [Ter. Ed.] c. 231, § 120) entered a verdict for the defendant Jeffery on the ground that the earlier judgment had adjudicated that the present plaintiff Cambria through his servant was guilty of contributory negligence, and reported the case.

A fact merely found in a case becomes adjudicated only when it is shown to have been a basis of the relief, denial of relief, or other ultimate right established by the judgment. Olsen v. Olsen, 294 Mass. 507, 509, 510. Tighe v. Skillings, 297 Mass. 504, 508. Whittemore v. Selectmen of Falmouth, 304 Mass. 72, 74. North Carolina Railroad v. Story, 268 U. S. 288, 294. Freeman, Judgments (5th ed. 1925) §§ 697, 698. Compare on the facts Long v. MacDougall, 273 Mass. 386, Browne v. Moran, 300 Mass. 107, Gilley v. Jarvis, 94 Vt. 135, and Winters v. Bisaillon, 153 Ore. 509, 104 Am. L. R. 968.

The earlier judgment was in effect that Jeffery could not recover against Cambria. The sole basis for that judgment was the finding that Jeffery was guilty of contributory negligence. The further finding that Cambria’s servant was negligent had no effect, and could have none, in producing that judgment. Therefore that judgment did not adjudicate that Cambria’s servant was negligent.

Verdict under leave reserved set aside.

Judgment upon the verdict returned by the jury.

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