Shultz v. Old Colony Street Railway Co.

79 N.E. 873, 193 Mass. 309, 1907 Mass. LEXIS 1172
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court·Decided January 1, 1907·Published·Cited by 100 cases

Opinion

Rugg, J.

This case fairly raises the question as to whether the negligence of the driver of a vehicle is to be imputed to a guest, riding with him gratuitously and personally in the exercise of all the care, which ordinary caution requires. The first case in our own court, which occasioned any discussion as to the identification of a passenger with a driver, was Allyn v. Boston & Albany Railroad, 105 Mass. 77. The injuries out of which that action grew were received at a crossing at grade of a highway and steam railroad. The plaintiff personally failed to exercise any care for his own safety at a place so well recognized as one of danger, and sought to recover by screening himself behind the due care of the driver. The court says respecting this contention: “If the plaintiff failed to use the care which prudence required, relying upon the vigilance of his companion, he must prove that Haskell was in the exercise of due care, not only in the management of his horse, but in using the necessary precautions to guard against danger from passing trains.”

The subject was next before the court in Randolph v. O’Riordon, 155 Mass. 331. Here one of the plaintiffs hired a hack of one of the defendants’ for the purpose of attending a funeral, and exercised no control over the actions of the driver of the carriage other than the purpose of hiring indicated. The injury occurred by reason of the negligence of the driver of the hack, in which the plaintiffs were riding, and the concurring negligence of the driver of another carriage. After repudiating the doctrine of Thorogood v. Bryan, 8 C. B. 115, and referring with approval to Little v. Sackett, 116 U. S. 366, 375, and quoting from Allyn v. Boston & Albany Railroad the sentence above quoted, the court proceeds: “ This was very different from saying that Haskell’s negligence was to be imputed to the plaintiff, if he had been a passenger in a hack of which Haskell was the driver. It was merely saying that if, in a dangerous place, one person trusted another person to look out for him, he must show that such person used due care.”

In Murray v. Boston Ice Co. 180 Mass. 165, the lower court was asked to rule “ That if the accident was not due to the negligence of the defendant’s driver alone but was due partly also [313] to the negligence of the plaintiff’s driver, Marshallen, he could not recover.” This was refused, but it was ruled that if the plaintiff “ ‘ trusted to Marshallen the sole care and management of the team in which they were riding, and relied solely on the care and vigilance of Marshallen,’ then he must show due care on Marshallen’s part.” This instruction was held correct. And it was further said that the court did not mean to give the Allyn case “ any further sanction than it now has.”

Yarnold v. Bowers, 186 Mass. 396, was a case of collision at night upon a small lake between an unlighted rowboat not pursuing any regular course and a lighted steamer pursuing a regular course. It appeared that the plaintiff’s intestate was standing in the rowboat at the time of the accident, when the danger was impending, obviously a careless thing to do, and failed to make any outcry or display any light or do anything for his own protection, and, so far as the rowing was concerned, trusted the entire charge of the boat to one Thorn, who was negligent. The court held that the case fell within the rule of Allyn v. Boston & Albany Railroad.

In Sullivan v. Boston Elevated Railway, 185 Mass. 602, 606, in Tilton v. Boston & Albany Railroad, 169 Mass. 253, in Robbins v. Fitchburg Railroad, 161 Mass. 145, in Evensen v. Lexington & Boston Street Bailway, 187 Mass. 77, and on one branch of his claim in Halloran v. Worcester Consolidated Street Railway, 192 Mass. 104, the plaintiff based his own case upon the due care of the driver of the vehicle in which he was riding, thereby adopting the driver’s acts as his own. In Creavin v. Newton Street Railway, 176 Mass. 529, and LeBlanc v. Lowell, Lawrence, & Haverhill Street Railway, 170 Mass. 564, the question of identification did not arise, as there was evidence in each case tending to show that the plaintiff actively exercised due care. The decision in Kane v. Boston Elevated Railway, 192 Mass. 386, was put upon the ground that the negligence of the defendant was not the cause of the accident to the plaintiff.

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

Shultz v. Old Colony Street Railway Co., 79 N.E. 873, 193 Mass. 309, 1907 Mass. LEXIS 1172 (Mass. 1907).

79 N.E. 873 (Shultz v. Old Colony Street Railway Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Stock v. Fife
430 N.E.2d 845 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1982)
Whalen v. Shivek
93 N.E.2d 393 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1950)
O'Toole v. Magoon
4 N.E.2d 357 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1936)
Cycz v. Dugal
3 N.E.2d 1011 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1936)
Hladick v. Williams
198 N.E. 662 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1935)
Guy v. Union Street Railway Co.
193 N.E. 740 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1935)
Curley v. Mahan
193 N.E. 34 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1934)
Ballou v. Fitzpatrick
186 N.E. 668 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1933)
DeLuca v. Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn Railroad
184 N.E. 924 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1933)
Slowik v. Union Street Railway Co.
184 N.E. 469 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1933)
Perry v. Stanfield
180 N.E. 514 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1932)
Key v. Carolina & N. W. Ry. Co.
162 S.E. 582 (Supreme Court of South Carolina, 1931)
Jones v. New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad
175 N.E. 487 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1931)
Caron v. Lynn Sand & Stone Co.
170 N.E. 77 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1930)
Nash v. Lang
167 N.E. 762 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1929)
Pendleton v. Boston Elevated Railway Co.
266 Mass. 214 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1929)
McDermott v. Sibert
119 So. 681 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1928)
Cox v. St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Co.
9 S.W.2d 96 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1928)
Oppenheim v. Barkin
159 N.E. 628 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1928)
Thorp v. Boston Elevated Railway Co.
156 N.E. 748 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1927)