Legal Opinion

Pierce v. Boston & Maine Railroad

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided November 25, 1913PublishedCited by 2 opinions

Tort by the father and mother of John N. Pierce, late of Worcester, as his dependent next of kin, under St. 1909, c. 514, § 129, to recover for the instantaneous death of their son on January 5, 1911, when he was-in the employ of the defendant and was engaged in coupling cars in the defendant’s freight yard at Worcester.

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Tort by the father and mother of John N. Pierce, late of Worcester, as his dependent next of kin, under St. 1909, c. 514, § 129, to recover for the instantaneous death of their son on January 5, 1911, when he was-in the employ of the defendant and was engaged in coupling cars in the defendant’s freight yard at Worcester. The eighth count of the declaration, on which alone the case went to the jury after the plaintiffs had waived all their other counts, alleged that the decedent was in the employ of the defendant as-a brakeman and that his death was caused by the negligence of some person or…

1Opinion of the CourtSheldon, J.

The deceased met his death in consequence of having been caught between two cars which were standing respectively upon tracks numbered two and three in the defendant’s freight yard. These were “ repair tracks,” upon which were placed only cars that needed repairing. They were intersecting tracks. There was a practice in the yard, when cars were shunted upon these or other intersecting tracks, to place them, not close to the point of intersection, but at a sufficient distance therefrom to leave room for a man to pass between the cars; and it could be found that this was intended, partly at…

2Cases cited4 opinions

  1. Dacey v. Old Colony RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1891
  2. Mackenzie v. New York Central & Hudson River RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1912
  3. Porter v. New York, New Haven, & Hartford RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1911
  4. Parmelee v. New York Central & Hudson River RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1913

3Cited by2 opinions

  1. Peay v. ReidyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1947
  2. Vaughan v. St. Louis Merchants Bridge Terminal Railway Co.Supreme Court of Missouri · 1929

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