Harakiewicz v. Dakas

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Harakiewicz v. Dakas

188 N.E.2d 581, 345 Mass. 594, 1963 Mass. LEXIS 711

CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

DecidedMarch 12, 1963

StatusPublished

This text of 188 N.E.2d 581 (Harakiewicz v. Dakas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Harakiewicz v. Dakas, 188 N.E.2d 581, 345 Mass. 594, 1963 Mass. LEXIS 711 (Mass. 1963).

Pincite

Opinion

Cutter, J.

This is a bill to reach and apply, in satisfaction of judgments obtained by the plaintiffs, the obligation of Westchester Fire Insurance Company (Westchester) under a compulsory automobile liability insurance policy issued to one Cogas, an individual defendant. The policy covered the vehicle which injured the plaintiffs on September 22,1957. The trial judge found that this vehicle, driven by the defendant Dakas, “was proceeding at a high rate of speed and went out of control upon the public way, entered upon . . . [private] property . . . and struck the plaintiffs ’ car. ’ ’ The plaintiffs ’ automobile was then upon property occupied by a Howard Johnson restaurant at a point “fifteen to twenty feet from the line of the State highway.” The judge ruled that the accident was within the policy coverage, i.e., providing indemnity for bodily injuries “arising out of the . . . operation ... [of the vehicle] upon the ways of the commonwealth.” Westchester appealed.

The judge’s ruling was correct. See Desmarais v. Standard Acc. Ins. Co. 331 Mass. 199, 200-203, and cases cited. Here the cause of the injury was the negligent operation of the vehicle upon a public way. In view of the terms of the coverage, it is immaterial that the impact of Gogas’s automobile upon the plaintiffs, and their injuries, caused by the operation upon the highway, occurred after the entire automobile had left the highway and had entered upon private property. See G. L. c. 90, § 34A (as amended through St. 1949, c. 571, § 1¹).

Decree affirmed with costs of the appeal.

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Cutter, J.

This is a bill to reach and apply, in satisfaction of judgments obtained by the plaintiffs, the obligation of Westchester Fire Insurance Company (Westchester) under a compulsory automobile liability insurance policy issued to one Cogas, an individual defendant. The policy covered the vehicle which injured the plaintiffs on September 22,1957. The trial judge found that this vehicle, driven by the defendant Dakas, “was proceeding at a high rate of speed and went out of control upon the public way, entered upon . . . [private] property . . . and struck the plaintiffs ’ car. ’ ’ The plaintiffs ’ automobile was then upon property occupied by a Howard Johnson restaurant at a point “fifteen to twenty feet from the line of the State highway.” The judge ruled that the accident was within the policy coverage, i.e., providing indemnity for bodily injuries “arising out of the . . . operation ... [of the vehicle] upon the ways of the commonwealth.” Westchester appealed.

The judge’s ruling was correct. See Desmarais v. Standard Acc. Ins. Co. 331 Mass. 199, 200-203, and cases cited. Here the cause of the injury was the negligent operation of the vehicle upon a public way. In view of the terms of the coverage, it is immaterial that the impact of Gogas’s automobile upon the plaintiffs, and their injuries, caused by the operation upon the highway, occurred after the entire automobile had left the highway and had entered upon private property. See G. L. c. 90, § 34A (as amended through St. 1949, c. 571, § 1¹).

Decree affirmed with costs of the appeal.

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Bluebook (online)

188 N.E.2d 581, 345 Mass. 594, 1963 Mass. LEXIS 711, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harakiewicz-v-dakas-mass-1963.

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