Legal Opinion

Merrill v. Eastern Railroad

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided May 8, 1885PublishedCited by 10 opinions

Tort, under the Pub. Sts. o. 112, § 212. The second count of the declaration, which alone need be stated, alleged that the defendant was a corporation owning and operating a railroad between Boston and Portsmouth, and was a common carrier of passengers between said places; that William K. Merrill, the plaintiff’s intestate, was a passenger on a train of the defendant; and that, while he was a passenger as aforesaid, the defendant, by the gross carelessness of its servants…

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Tort, under the Pub. Sts. o. 112, § 212. The second count of the declaration, which alone need be stated, alleged that the defendant was a corporation owning and operating a railroad between Boston and Portsmouth, and was a common carrier of passengers between said places; that William K. Merrill, the plaintiff’s intestate, was a passenger on a train of the defendant; and that, while he was a passenger as aforesaid, the defendant, by the gross carelessness of its servants and agents, drove an engine and cars of the defendant against him, whereby said Merrill was killed. Answer, a general…

1Opinion of the CourtW. Allen, J.

It was not incumbent upon the plaintiff to' prove that the deceased was in the exercise of due care. Commonwealth v. Boston & Lowell Railroad, 134 Mass. 211. No distinction in this respect can be made between an indictment and an action of tort, under the Pub. Sts. a. 112, § 212.

The witness Prescott might have noticed many things which would have been competent upon the questions whether the car stopped, and whether the station was called in the hearing of *258the deceased, before the express train passed. The question put to him, if it called for a statement of what he noticed, was broad enough…

2Cases cited1 opinion

  1. Commonwealth v. Boston & Lowell RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1883

3Cited by10 opinions

  1. Boott Mills v. Boston & Maine RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1914
  2. Hudson v. Lynn & Boston RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1904
  3. Porter v. SorellMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1932
  4. Arruda v. Director General of RailroadsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1925
  5. Daury v. FerraroSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1928

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