Linton v. Weymouth Light & Power Co.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort for personal injuries from coming in contact with a wire charged with electricity, alleged to have been maintained negligently by the defendant, a corporation furnishing electricity for street and house use, while the plaintiff was walking on the easterly sidewalk of Main Street in that part of Weymouth called South Weymouth at about half past nine o’clock on the evening of October 29, 1899. Writ dated August 4, 1900. At the trial in the Superior Court Bishop, J.…
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Tort for personal injuries from coming in contact with a wire charged with electricity, alleged to have been maintained negligently by the defendant, a corporation furnishing electricity for street and house use, while the plaintiff was walking on the easterly sidewalk of Main Street in that part of Weymouth called South Weymouth at about half past nine o’clock on the evening of October 29, 1899. Writ dated August 4, 1900. At the trial in the Superior Court Bishop, J. ordered a verdict for the defendant; and the plaintiff alleged exceptions.
1Opinion of the CourtLathrop, J.
We are of opinion in this case that there was evidence sufficient to submit to the jury, both on the question of negligence on the part of the defendant, and of due care on the part of the plaintiff.
The wire with which the plaintiff came in contact was one for supplying power for house lighting, and carried an alternating current of thirty-five hundred volts, while a current as high as one thousand volts was dangerous to life, as the superintendent of the defendant company testified. At the place of the accident the wire, though supported on poles, ran through branches of trees, and this the…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Thomas v. Western Union Telegraph Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1868
- Lutolf v. United Electric Light Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1903
- Bourget v. City of CambridgeMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1893
- Bourget v. City of CambridgeMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1892
3Cited by7 opinions
- Royal Indemnity Co. v. Pittsfield Electric Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1935
- McCrea v. Beverly Gas & Electric Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1914
- Prince v. Lowell Electric Light Corp.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1909
- Jordan v. Adams Gas Light Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1918
- Reynolds v. Iowa Southern Utilities Co.Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · 1927
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