Peloquin v. Robert Northridge Furniture Co.
Peloquin v. Robert Northridge Furniture Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is an action of tort to recover for personal injuries caused by the alleged negligence of the defendant’s employees. We have had occasion to consider the case twice before, 338 Mass. 107, and 341 Mass. 543. In the more recent decision we sustained the exception of the plaintiff to the direction of a verdict for the defendant.
The plaintiff lived in an apartment on the third floor of a building at 8% Chrome Street in Worcester. He was moving to another apartment and had purchased new furniture from the defendant in a ‘transaction whereby some of the plaintiff’s old furniture was taken by the defendant in part payment for the new. On the morning of July 29,1954, the defendant sent a truck with two of its employees, Bell and Fleming, to the plaintiff’s apartment to remove the furniture which it had acquired.
There was evidence that Bell was the driver of the truck and “supervisor” of the work of removal. Fleming was his assistant. After taking a bureau down the stairway
At the conclusion of the evidence a motion of the defendant for a directed verdict was denied and the defendant excepted. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff.
“It could have been found,” as we said in a former opinion on substantially the same evidence, “that Bell and Fleming had at least implied authority from the defendant to obtain assistance from the plaintiff.” Peloquin v. Robert Northridge Furniture Co. 341 Mass. 543, 545, and cases cited. It could not be ruled that the plaintiff was guilty of
The defendant excepted to the admission of testimony by the plaintiff’s daughter that she heard Bell and Fleming say that it was impossible to move the remainder of the furniture by the stairway and that they would have to do it by the front porch. The defendant had admitted in answer to an interrogatory that the men decided “it would be easier to lower the rest of the furniture down over the outside of the building. ’ ’ The answer was in evidence and the testimony to which exception was taken was substantially cumulative. If technically inadmissible, the defendant was not harmed. Bendett v. Bendett, 315 Mass. 59, 65-66, and cases cited. There was no reversible error.
No error appears in the admission of other evidence to which the defendant excepted. The daughter testified that her father asked Bell if he thought the railing was strong enough to “carry this heavy divan” and Bell answered, “We’ve been doing it all morning and nothing’s happened so far. It’s plenty strong enough to carry this-divan.” The question and answer were material to the question of the plaintiff’s due care if for no other reason. Other testimony by the same witness that the push given to the divan by Bell was a “lunge” was allowed to stand. It was a proper descriptive term meaning, according to dictionary definition, a sudden thrust.
The defendant excepted to the denial of its motion for a new trial on the ground that the verdict was against the weight of the credible evidence. It contended that evidence presented by several of the plaintiff’s witnesses was so greatly at variance with their testimony at previous trials that it was unworthy of belief and that justice required another trial. An examination of the cross-examination of these witnesses shows certain differences between their testimony at the instant trial and at the previous trials; but not of such nature that it can be said the judge erred in denying the defendant’s motion.
Exceptions overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Paul E. Peloquin v. Robert Northridge Furniture Company
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published