McDonough v. Metropolitan Railroad

137 Mass. 210, 1884 Mass. LEXIS 231
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedMay 10, 1884
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 137 Mass. 210 (McDonough v. Metropolitan Railroad) 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
McDonough v. Metropolitan Railroad, 137 Mass. 210, 1884 Mass. LEXIS 231 (Mass. 1884).

Opinion

W. Allen, J.

The plaintiff, a boy of the age of thirteen years and five months, accustomed to ride in horse cars, attempted to get upon the front platform of the defendant’s car while it was in motion, and was thrown down and injured; it was upon the Lord’s day, and the plaintiff’s object in taking the car was to travel upon it, but not for any purpose of necessity or charity. Three questions are presented in the exceptions: whether there was evidence of negligence in the driver of the car which caused the injury; whether there was evidence that the plaintiff was in the exercise of due care; and whether the plaintiff was a passenger upon the car.

1. The evidence of the plaintiff tended to prove that, when he saw the car coming, he, with another boy, left the sidewalk where they had been waiting, crossed the street, and stood by the side of the track; that the car stopped less than two car-lengths from the place of the accident, and started with a “ tow-horse ” attached; that the grade was rising; that the horses started on a walk, and, at the time the plaintiff attempted to get upon the platform, were just beginning to trot, or going at a slow trot; that, when the car approached the plaintiff, he signalled the driver to stop; that the driver saw him, and turned to speak to the tow-boy, who was on the front platform on the opposite side of the car from the plaintiff; that the plaintiff’s companion got upon the front platform; that, as the plaintiff was getting upon it, with one foot upon the step and holding to the railings with both hands, the driver and the tow-boy started [212]*212up the horses, giving the car a jerk by which the plaintiff’s foot was thrown off the step, and, after being dragged a few feet, he fell and the wheel passed over him.

The argument for the defendant is, that the only inference the jury could draw from this evidence is that the driver properly refused to stop his car on a rising grade, and signified that to the plaintiff, and had no reason to suppose that the plaintiff would attempt to get upon the front platform. But the jury were not bound to draw that inference; on the contrary, they may have believed, from the evidence, that the driver, knowing that the plaintiff intended to get upon the front platform of the car, instead of forbidding it, started up his horses. There was some evidence that not only the signal to the driver, but the position and movements of the plaintiff at the time, indicated to the driver that' the plaintiff intended to step upon the front platform. If the jury found that the driver believed that the plaintiff was getting upon the car, there was sufficient evidence of negligence of the defendant.

2. The defendant contends that the fact that the plaintiff attempted to get upon the front platform of the car while it was in motion should be held by the court as conclusive that he was not in the exercise of due care. There is no rule of law that riding or stepping upon the front platform of a horse car when in motion is negligent. See Meesel v. Lynn & Boston Railroad, 8 Allen, 234; Cram v. Metropolitan Railroad, 112 Mass. 38; Maguire v. Middlesex Railroad, 115 Mass. 239; Murphy v. Union Railway, 118 Mass. 228; Wills v. Lynn Boston Railroad, 129 Mass. 351; Fleck v. Union Railway, 134 Mass. 480.

Whether any particular act of that kind is negligent must depend upon the circumstances attending and characterizing it, and must ordinarily be determined by the judgment of a jury. In this case, where the circumstances are disclosed in the evidence, and there is conflicting testimony in regard to them, and disputed inferences of fact are to be drawn, the court would not be authorized to take the ease from the jury, unless the act, as proved by undisputed testimony, is seen to be such that the common judgment of men immediately pronounces it to be negligent.

[213]*213It does not appear that the act was prohibited by the defendant. There is nothing in the case to show that the defendant did not invite its passengers to enter cars by the front as well as by the rear platform. There was no rule or notice prohibiting it. The platforms were alike fitted for such use, and, as matter of common knowledge, were both used for that purpose, and both occupied by passengers; and the jury might well have found that the public were invited to use both. There was no evidence that passengers were not permitted, and impliedly invited, to get upon the cars when in motion; and such invitation might be implied if cars were commonly used in that way without objection, or if such use were consistent with due care. It is unnecessary to consider what inference in this respect the jury might have drawn, because we think that, upon the whole evidence, the question of the plaintiff’s care was for the jury. It is obvious that the mere fact of getting upon the front platform of a horse car when in motion is not, in the common judgment of men, inconsistent with due care. It would not strike the common mind as necessary to stop a car whenever a conductor or a policeman stepped upon the front platform. There is not, as in the case of steam cars, any commonly recognized rule of prudent conduct forbidding the act, but the question of due care must be determined by the circumstances and manner of the act, and is a question for the jury, except in those cases where the facts established by undisputed testimony leave no reasonable question. If any facts which may be found by a jury upon the evidence would present a reasonable question whether the plaintiff was not in the exercise of due care, the facts must be passed on by the jury, and the question answered by them.

In the case at bar, there was evidence of many facts bearing upon the character of the plaintiff’s act, upon which a jury must pass. The speed at which the car was moving; what reasonable expectation the plaintiff had that the driver would check the speed of the horses, in consequence of the signal and the conduct of the plaintiff; what inference the plaintiff might have drawn from the fact that the driver made no objection and no reply when the plaintiff signified to him his intention to get upon the front platform; the evidence that there were passengers [214]*214upon the front platform, and that the plaintiff’s companion got safely upon it; the number of passengers in the car, and upon the rear platform, as the reason testified to by the plaintiff for not attempting to get upon that; the manner in which the plaintiff attempted to get upon the platform; the manner in which the driver and tow-boy started up the horses, and the cause and manner of the plaintiff’s fall; the testimony of the plaintiff as to his familiarity with car riding; his testimony that his act was not dangerous because he took care, and that the horses were going so slow that anybody could get on; the testimony of the driver, that there was no difficulty for some people to get on a car going at the rate of four miles an hour, while there was difficulty for others; — these, without referring to other evidence, were matters which it was for the jury to pass upon and consider, to find the facts, and to draw from the facts found the inference of care or. negligence of the plaintiff. We think there was evidence which rendered it a proper question for the jury. The first and second requests for instructions were properly refused.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Oklahoma Ry. Co. v. Roebuck
1951 OK 348 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1951)
Farber v. Mutual Life Insurance
145 N.E. 535 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1924)
Burns v. United States
279 F. 982 (Eighth Circuit, 1922)
Citizens' Ry. Co. v. Farley
136 S.W. 94 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1911)
Bradley v. Warren
72 A. 173 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1908)
Rand v. Boston Elevated Railway Co.
84 N.E. 841 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1908)
Hall v. Terre Haute Electric Co.
76 N.E. 334 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1905)
Block v. City of Worcester
72 N.E. 77 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1904)
Citizens Street Railroad v. Jolly
67 N.E. 935 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1903)
Root v. Des Moines City Railway Co.
83 N.W. 904 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1900)
North Chicago Street Railroad v. Baur
45 L.R.A. 108 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1899)
Cicero & Proviso Street Railway Co. v. Meixner
160 Ill. 320 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1896)
Finkeldey v. Omnibus Cable Co.
45 P. 996 (California Supreme Court, 1896)
Citizens' Street Railroad v. Spahr
33 N.E. 446 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1893)
Ober v. Crescent City Railroad
44 La. Ann. 1059 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1892)
North Chicago Street Railroad v. Williams
140 Ill. 275 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1892)
Corlin v. West End Street Railway
27 N.E. 1000 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1891)
Schacherl v. St. Paul City Railway Co.
43 N.W. 837 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1889)
Briggs v. Union Street Railway Co.
19 N.E. 19 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1888)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
137 Mass. 210, 1884 Mass. LEXIS 231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcdonough-v-metropolitan-railroad-mass-1884.