Hannah v. Connecticut River Railroad
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort, for personal injuries occasioned to the plaintiff while in the defendant’s employ as a brakeman in its freight-yard at Holyoke.
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Tort, for personal injuries occasioned to the plaintiff while in the defendant’s employ as a brakeman in its freight-yard at Holyoke. At the trial in the Superior Court, before Barker, J., the plaintiff testified that on December 23,1889, he was in the employ of the defendant as a brakeman, and for two or three months before that time had worked in its Holyoke yard, and was familiar with the same, and with the position, construction, and working of the various switches therein situated; that during the forenoon of that day he was engaged in assisting to make up a freight train, of which one…
1Opinion of the CourtMorton, J.
It was a question of fact for the jury whether the place where the plaintiff was injured constituted a defect in the road-bed, and whether its existence was due to the negligence of the defendant. There was evidence tending to show that it had been there a week or more, and looked as though it had been dug out for a drain, and that there was a larger space between the switch-rod and the ground than at any other switch in the yard. There was also testimony tending to show that the distance between the switch-rod and the ground was about five and a half inches, and that the distance was about…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Lawless v. Connecticut River RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1883
- Plank v. N.Y. Central and Hudson River Railroad CompanyNew York Court of Appeals · 1875
- Gustafsen v. Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1891
3Cited by17 opinions
- Wagner v. Boston Elevated Railway Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1905
- St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad v. MorrisSupreme Court of Kansas · 1907
- Yost v. Union Pacific RailroadSupreme Court of Missouri · 1912
- Pierson v. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Co.Supreme Court of Iowa · 1905
- Railroad v. ReaganTennessee Supreme Court · 1896
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