Buckland v. New York, New Haven, & Hartford Railroad
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort by a railway mail clerk in the employ of the United States, travelling on a pass called his “ commission,” against a railroad company for injuries caused by the derailment and overturning of a car of the defendant in which the plaintiff was lying asleep on a table.
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Tort by a railway mail clerk in the employ of the United States, travelling on a pass called his “ commission,” against a railroad company for injuries caused by the derailment and overturning of a car of the defendant in which the plaintiff was lying asleep on a table. Writ dated November 17, 1898. The case was tried in the Superior Court before Richardson, J. At the close of the evidence the defendant requested the judge to rule as follows: 1. Upon all the evidence the defendant is not liable. 2. The plaintiff was not a passenger within the legal significance of that term. 3. The plaintiff…
1Opinion of the CourtLathrop, J.
If we assume that the plaintiff was a passenger, and might have rested his case by showing that the car in which he was riding was derailed, thus making out a prima facie case, he did not choose to do so, but went on and showed by his own witnesses just how the accident happened. Unless, therefore, the evidence put in by him tended to show negligence on the part of the defendant, he was not entitled to go to the jury. Winship v. New York, New Raven, & Hartford Railroad, 170 Mass. 464.
The declaration alleges that the derailment of the train was caused by reason of the defective condition of…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Ladd v. New Bedford RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1876
- Winship v. New York, New Haven, & Hartford RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1898
3Cited by24 opinions
- Price v. Metropolitan Street Railway Co.Supreme Court of Missouri · 1909
- Cassady v. Old Colony Street Railway Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1903
- Heffter v. Northern States Power Co.Supreme Court of Minnesota · 1927
- Whitney v. Northwest Greyhound Lines, Inc.Montana Supreme Court · 1952
- Osborne v. CharbneauWashington Supreme Court · 1928
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