Legal Opinion

Poff v. New England Telephone & Telegraph Co.

Supreme Court of New Hampshire

Decided May 5, 1903PublishedCited by 16 opinions

Case, for personal injuries to the plaintiff’s intestate, alleged to have been caused by the defendants’ negligence. Plea, the general issue. Trial by jury and verdict for the plaintiff. Transferred from the January term, 1902, of the superior court by Stone, J. The injury oomplained of was received February 31, 1895, and-resulted in the death of the intestate on the same day.

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Case, for personal injuries to the plaintiff’s intestate, alleged to have been caused by the defendants’ negligence. Plea, the general issue. Trial by jury and verdict for the plaintiff. Transferred from the January term, 1902, of the superior court by Stone, J. The injury oomplained of was received February 31, 1895, and-resulted in the death of the intestate on the same day. The writ was dated February 2, 1901. The defendants’ motion for a non-suit was denied, subject to exception.

1Opinion of the CourtWalker, J.

In the absence of statutory authority, the action cannot be maintained. At common law an action for a personal tort resulting in death does not survive. This “ rule has been too long established and too generally recognized as a settled principle of the' common law to be now shaken by anything short of a legislative act.” Wyatt v. Williams, 43 N. H. 102, 108; Sawyer v. Railroad, 58 N. H. 517; Clark v. Manchester, 62 N. H. 577, 582, 583; Corliss v. Railroad, 63 N. H. 404.

At the time of the last revision of the statutes, in 1891, the-existing statutes relating to the survival of actions of tort…

2Cases cited7 opinions

  1. The HarrisburgSupreme Court of the United States · 1886
  2. Hill v. Board of SupervisorsNew York Court of Appeals · 1890
  3. Taylor v. Cranberry Iron & Coal Co.Supreme Court of North Carolina · 1886
  4. Hanna v. Jeffersonville RailroadIndiana Supreme Court · 1869
  5. O'Shields v. Georgia Pacific Railway Co.Supreme Court of Georgia · 1889

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3Cited by16 opinions

  1. Brookshire v. BurkhartSupreme Court of Oklahoma · 1929
  2. American R. Co. of Porto Rico v. CoronasCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit · 1916
  3. State, Ex Rel. Dunnigan v. CobournCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1936
  4. Kerley v. HoehmanSupreme Court of Oklahoma · 1916
  5. Guerin v. New Hampshire Catholic Charities, Inc.Supreme Court of New Hampshire · 1980

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