Lynch v. Swan
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tout, for personal injuries occasioned to the plaintiff by the breaking of one of the steps of an uncovered outside staircase leading from the street into a building owned by the defendant, one tenement in which was occupied by the plaintiff, and the staircase being used in common by all the tenants of the building, it being the only entrance from the street into the house. Trial in the Superior Court, before Dewey.
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Tout, for personal injuries occasioned to the plaintiff by the breaking of one of the steps of an uncovered outside staircase leading from the street into a building owned by the defendant, one tenement in which was occupied by the plaintiff, and the staircase being used in common by all the tenants of the building, it being the only entrance from the street into the house. Trial in the Superior Court, before Dewey. J., who, at the close of the evidence, directed the jury to return a verdict for the defendant; and reported the case for the determination of this court. If such direction was…
1Opinion of the CourtField, C. J.
There was evidence for the jury that the plaintiff was in the exercise of due care, and some evidence from which the jury might find that it was the defendant’s duty towards her to take reasonable care that the steps should be kept in such a condition that they would not give way when the plaintiff used them in a proper manner, as a means of entering or leaving the house. ^ The difficulty is in determining whether *511there was evidence that the defendant had failed to exercise such reasonable care. The fact that one of the steps broke under the weight of the plaintiff is some evidence that in…
2Cases cited6 opinions
- Woods v. Naumkeag Steam Cotton Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1883
- Bowe v. HunkingMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1883
- Lindsey v. LeightonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1889
- Quinn v. PerhamMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1890
- Moynihan v. AllynMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1894
1 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.
3Cited by7 opinions
- Willcox v. HinesTennessee Supreme Court · 1898
- O'Malley v. Twenty-Five AssociatesMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1901
- Kirby v. TirrellMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1920
- Berlin v. WallSupreme Court of Virginia · 1918
- O'Malley v. Twenty-Five AssociatesMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1898
2 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.