Coyne v. John S. Tilley Co. Inc.

These are two actions of tort in which the plaintiff seeks to recover for injuries suffered in a fall from an aluminum stepladder. In his declarations, 2 the plaintiff alleges that his fall “was due to the negligent and careless manner in which said ladder was manufactured, designed, and constructed.” The two actions were consolidated for trial in the Municipal Court of the City of Boston. In the action brought against the manufacturer of the ladder, John S. Tilley Co., Inc. (Tilley), the trial judge, after denying the defendant’s request for rulings, 3 found for the plaintiff in the amount…