Gonsalves v. Commonwealth

During her training at the Framingham State Police Academy (the Academy), Margaret M. Gonsalves, a freshly minted officer in the Tisbury police department, hurt her left pinky finger while playing a prescribed game, “bombardment.” She claims a right to maintain an action against the Commonwealth (the Academy is an agency of the Commonwealth), asserting that considerations of public policy override an express allocation of liability by the Academy to the town by which Gonsalves is employed. A judge of the Superior Court, who considered the case on the defendant’s motion for summary judgment,…