Owens v. Harvard Brewing Co.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort for personal injuries from falling into an opening in the sidewalk on Bowdoin Square in Boston from which the servants of the defendant had removed the bulkhead for the purpose of delivering beer in the cellar of the Bowdoin Square Hotel numbered 1-6 in that square, owing to the alleged negligence of the defendant’s servants in leaving the opening unguarded.
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Tort for personal injuries from falling into an opening in the sidewalk on Bowdoin Square in Boston from which the servants of the defendant had removed the bulkhead for the purpose of delivering beer in the cellar of the Bowdoin Square Hotel numbered 1-6 in that square, owing to the alleged negligence of the defendant’s servants in leaving the opening unguarded. Writ dated April 18, 1908. In the Superior Court the case was tried before Bond, J. The accident happened about a quarter before five o’clock in the afternoon of December 27, 1902. The plaintiff was sixty-three years of age and had…
1Opinion of the CourtMorton, J.
The evidence was conflicting whether barrels were placed on each side of the opening left by the removal of the bulkhead to prevent any one from falling into it, and the question was plainly one for the jury. So also we think was the question of the plaintiff’s due care. He had some right at least *500to assume that bulkheads would not be left open in the sidewalk without being suitably guarded, and knowledge of the existence of the bulkhead did not necessarily convict him of heedlessness. It was for the jury, taking into account, all of the circumstances, the time of day, his knowledge of the…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Lamb v. City of WorcesterMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1900
- Woods v. City of BostonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1876
- Fuller v. Inhabitants of Hyde ParkMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1894
3Cited by2 opinions
- Gurley v. Springfield Street Railway Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1910
- Picquett v. Wellington-Wild Coal Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1909