Longo v. Registrar of Motor Vehicles

By these two actions of tort (consolidated for trial in the Superior Court) the plaintiff sought to recover damages from the then Registrar of Motor Vehicles for wrongful suspension of the plaintiffs license to operate a motor vehicle. The trial judge directed verdicts for the defendant on the plaintiff s opening statement to the jury. There was no error. “The purpose of an opening statement is ... to acquaint [the judge and jury] ... with the specific case which has been previously described to them in a formal manner by a reading of the declaration.” Douglas v. Whittaker, 324 Mass. 398, 399…