Colford v. New England Structural Co.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort for personal injuries received by the plaintiff while in the defendant’s employ and at work upon a temporary staging in constructing with other workmen a steel bridge over the tracks of the Boston and Albany Railroad Company at Walnut Street in Newton.
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Tort for personal injuries received by the plaintiff while in the defendant’s employ and at work upon a temporary staging in constructing with other workmen a steel bridge over the tracks of the Boston and Albany Railroad Company at Walnut Street in Newton. Writ dated June 5, 1906. The declaration contained three counts under R. L. c. 106, § 71, cl. 2, alleging that the injuries to the plaintiff were caused by the negligence of a superintendent of the defendant or by one acting as such in the absence of the superintendent, and two counts at common law, the first of which alleged as the cause…
1Opinion of the CourtSheldon, J.
We think it clear that upon the common law counts the action cannot be maintained. The plaintiff fully appreciated that the work in which he was engaged was highly dangerous; he with his fellow workmen put in place the plank which constituted the staging on which he was sitting and the blocks or timbers upon which the plank rested; he knew that if the plank was not high enough the trains would hit it, and that for his own safety he must see to it that the plank was high enough to clear the trains. And he cannot upon these counts hold the defendant liable for any negligence of his fellow…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- Boucher v. New York, New Haven, & Hartford RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1907
- Brow v. Boston & Albany RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1892
- Healey v. George F. Blake Manufacturing Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1902
- O'Brien v. RideoutMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1894
- Ahern v. HildrethMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1903
3Cited by3 opinions
- Greem v. CohenMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1937
- Fowler Ex Rel. Fowler v. Carolina Cross Arm & Conduit Co.Supreme Court of North Carolina · 1926
- McLellan v. Boston & Maine RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1912