Sluckus v. Fraktman

77 N.E.2d 393, 322 Mass. 379, 1948 Mass. LEXIS 481
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court·Decided February 5, 1948·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

Dolan, J.

This action of tort was brought originally in the Superior Court for Essex County, by writ naming as defendants Peter Sensabella and the present defendant Fraktman, the operators respectively of automobiles by each of which the plaintiff was struck and injured on May 14, 1944. The plaintiff settled with Sensabella and discontinued as to him. The action against Fraktman was thereafter tried to a jury. After verdict the presiding judge ordered a new trial. The case was then transferred to Suffolk County and tried to a jury, another judge presiding. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, and the case comes before us on the defendant’s exceptions to the denial by the judge of certain requests for instructions and to one statement made by the judge in his charge. The only exceptions argued in the matter of the requests for instructions are those to the denial of requests 9, 13, 15 and 16. Exceptions to the denial of other requests not having been argued by the defendant are treated as waived. Soscia v. Soscia, 310 Mass. 418, 420, and cases cited.

The jury could have found the following facts. On May 14, 1944, at 12:15 a.m., the plaintiff was walking on the right hand side of Shawmut Avenue in Boston in the direction of Roxbury. When he reached the intersection of Shawmut Avenue and Dover Street he stopped and looked first to his left and saw an automobile approaching, about two hundred feet away. Looking then to his right, he saw another automobile approaching, about three hundred feet away. He thought it was safe for him to cross Dover [382] Street, which was thirty to thirty-four feet wide. There were two sets of street car tracks in the street. The plaintiff reached the second rail, which was approximately fourteen and a half feet from the curb, when the left front mudguard of the automobile approaching from his left, and operated by Sensabélla, hit him on the left side. He fell on his forehead near the third rail, “turned over on bis leg,” raised his right foot, and tried to get up. He saw an automobile, - operated by the defendant, approaching from his right; it was then about eighty feet away; it did not stop; it went over his legs; and he “noticed the crack of the leg” before he became unconscious. The injuries thus sustained were separate from those inflicted by the automobile of Sensa-bella. The jury could also have found that the defendant was operating his automobile (a taxicab) at a speed of twenty-five to thirty miles an hour; that the brakes and other equipment of the vehicle were in good order; that there was no vehicle in front of his going in the same direction; that its headlights were on high beam, and he could see objects forty or fifty feet ahead; that his vision was clear; that Dover Street which the plaintiff was crossing was “perfectly straight”; that the Sensabella automobile, which was two hundred feet to the plaintiff’s left when he stepped off the curb, was “almost the other side of Shawmut Avenue” when first seen by the defendant; that he did not see it strike the plaintiff; that at no time did he see the plaintiff crossing the street although there was nothing to interfere with his vision; and that he did not see the plaintiff until he came in contact with his taxicab.

It appears from the pre-trial report that at the pre-trial hearing held before the first trial the following entry was made under the designation “stipulations and admissions”: “Pleadings are complete. It is agreed that the accident occurred on a public highway. It is agreed that the automobile of the defendant Fraktman was legally registered and that he was legally qualified to operate. It is agreed that Fraktman was the owner and operator of the taxicab involved in the accident. It is agreed that the plaintiff has received the sum of $3,875 on a covenant not to sue in his [383] action against Peter Sensabella, which sum is to be deducted from any sum recoverable in this action.” Under the designation “Remarks: Memorandum” appeared the following: “Plaintiff sues for personal injuries received when he as a pedestrian was struck by an automobile owned and operated by the defendant.”

Upon the transfer of the case to Suffolk County, another pre-trial hearing was held, as a result of which the following was added to the original pre-trial report under the designation “stipulations and admissions”: “It is agreed that there was contact between the motor vehicle operated by the defendant Fraktman and the plaintiff.” Under the designation “Remarks: Memorandum” was added, “It is the contention of the plaintiff that while a pedestrian be was struck first by the motor vehicle of Sensabella and then, after that accident was over, he was struck by the motor vehicle operated by the defendant Fraktman, and this suit is for the injuries caused by the defendant Fraktman.”

It will be more orderly to consider first the defendant’s request for ruling numbered 13, which was as follows : “If the jury finds for the plaintiff, the jury must deduct from whatever sum the jury thinks the plaintiff should receive the sum of $3,875.”

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Sluckus v. Fraktman, 77 N.E.2d 393, 322 Mass. 379, 1948 Mass. LEXIS 481 (Mass. 1948).

77 N.E.2d 393 (Sluckus v. Fraktman) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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