Feely v. Pearson Cordage Co.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort, for personal injuries occasioned to the plaintiff by falling into a well of hot water in the defendant’s factory. Trial in the Superior Court, before Corcoran, J., who resigned shortly thereafter, and by the agreement of counsel a bill of exceptions was subsequently allowed by Bond, J., in substance as follows.
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Tort, for personal injuries occasioned to the plaintiff by falling into a well of hot water in the defendant’s factory. Trial in the Superior Court, before Corcoran, J., who resigned shortly thereafter, and by the agreement of counsel a bill of exceptions was subsequently allowed by Bond, J., in substance as follows. The plaintiff prior to the accident, which occurred on April 22, 1892, had been employed by the defendant for four or five weeks in the basement of its factory on a roping machine. In the floor of the basement, at one end, was an open tank or well four or five feet across and two…
1Opinion of the CourtMorton, J.
For most of the time during the four or five weeks that the plaintiff had been working for the defendant he had known of the well. Sometimes the barrel from which he got the washers was nearer to, and sometimes farther from it. The defendant was under no obligation to the plaintiff to cover the well or keep the floor dry. Murphy v. American Rubber Co. 159 Mass. 266, and cases cited. The danger of slipping or of falling into the well was an obvious one, and the plaintiff must be held to have assumed the risk. It does not matter that he did not know the precise extent or character of the injury…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Murphy v. American Rubber Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1893
3Cited by14 opinions
- Rase v. Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Co.Supreme Court of Minnesota · 1909
- Hollidge v. DuncanMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1908
- Goodes v. Boston & Albany RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1894
- Murch v. Thomas Wilson's Sons & Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1897
- Davis v. ForbesMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1898
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