Nickerson v. Tirrell
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort for injuries received by the plaintiffs’ schooner while lying in the defendant’s dock. Trial in the Superior Court, before Pitman, J., who allowed a bill of exceptions in substance as follows: There was evidence tending to show that the defendant’s dock, which was about sixty feet wide, had been in use since 1845, since which time many vessels had discharged there, both larger and smaller than the plaintiffs’, and no vessel had ever received damage there before or…
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Tort for injuries received by the plaintiffs’ schooner while lying in the defendant’s dock. Trial in the Superior Court, before Pitman, J., who allowed a bill of exceptions in substance as follows: There was evidence tending to show that the defendant’s dock, which was about sixty feet wide, had been in use since 1845, since which time many vessels had discharged there, both larger and smaller than the plaintiffs’, and no vessel had ever received damage there before or since, although nothing had been done to the dock since this vessel was there; that the dock had a bottom of clay covered…
1Opinion of the CourtMorton, J.
The general rules of law applicable in cases of this character are well settled. The owner or "occupant of a dock is liable in damages to a person who, by his invitation express or implied, makes use of it, for an injury caused by any defect or unsafe condition of the dock which the occupant negligently causes 01 permits to exist, if such person was himself in the exercise of due care. Such occupant is not an insurer of the safety of his dock, but he is required to use reasonable care to keep his dock in such a state as to be reasonably safe for use by vessels which he invites to enter it, or…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Carleton v. Franconia Iron & Steel Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1868
3Cited by21 opinions
- Smith v. BurnettSupreme Court of the United States · 1899
- Guinan v. Boston, Cape Cod & New York Canal Co.Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1924
- Monsanto Company v. Port of St. Louis Investments, Inc.District Court, E.D. Missouri · 1972
- Garfield & Proctor Coal Co. v. Rockland-Rockport Lime Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1903
- Donaldson v. WilsonMichigan Supreme Court · 1886
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