Cunningham v. Lynn & Boston Street Railway Co.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort, under the employers’ liability act, St. 1887, c. 270, by the administratrix of the estate of Charles H. Cunningham, for causing his death on August 81,1894. Trial in the Superior Court, before Gaskill, J., who allowed a bill of exceptions, in substance as follows.
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Tort, under the employers’ liability act, St. 1887, c. 270, by the administratrix of the estate of Charles H. Cunningham, for causing his death on August 81,1894. Trial in the Superior Court, before Gaskill, J., who allowed a bill of exceptions, in substance as follows. There was evidence tending to show that the deceased at the time of his death was forty-three years of age; that for some time he had been employed by the defendant, previously to which he had worked around cars and carriages, and had been a milkman and a 11 lumper,” so called, making himself generally useful at different…
1Opinion of the CourtBarker, J.
1. If the windlass was defective because it had no clutch or ratchet, the lack of those appliances was obvious, and the plaintiff’s intestate, a man of mature years, and who, besides an earlier experience in work of various kinds, had been for some time in the defendant’s service, must, in the opinion of *303a majority of the court, be held to have understood the dangers incident to the use of the windlass in the condition in which it was. He knew as much as any one about the machine, and what might happehi from its use. If it was negligence to use it upon the occasion of the accident, the…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- O'Neil v. O'LearyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1895
3Cited by2 opinions
- Mulligan v. McCafferyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1903
- Moran v. City of ChelseaMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1907