Smith v. Inhabitants of Hyde Park
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Tort under R. L. c. 51, § 18, for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff in the afternoon of June 13, 1911, while travelling on the sidewalk of River Street, a highway in the town of Hyde Park, by falling into a ditch or trench dug across that sidewalk.
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Tort under R. L. c. 51, § 18, for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff in the afternoon of June 13, 1911, while travelling on the sidewalk of River Street, a highway in the town of Hyde Park, by falling into a ditch or trench dug across that sidewalk. Writ dated October 18, 1911. In the Superior Court the case was tried before McLaughlin, J. At the close of the evidence, which is described in the opinion, the defendant asked the judge to rule that upon all the evidence the plaintiff was not entitled to recover. The judge refused to make this ruling and submitted the case to the jury…
1Opinion of the CourtSheldon, J.
The ditch across the sidewalk which constituted the defect alleged in this case did not exist at one o’clock in the afternoon when the plaintiff passed over the sidewalk. It was there and she fell into it at about four o’clock in the same afternoon. There was no evidence that any one had a permit to dig either in the street or in the sidewalk. There was no evidence that the defendant had before the accident any knowledge or actual notice of the creation or the existence of the defect. But the burden was upon the plaintiff to show that the defendant either had, or by the exercise of proper…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Campbell v. City of BostonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1905
- Brummett v. City of BostonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1901
- Bennett v. City of EverettMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1906
- Craig v. Inhabitants of LeominsterMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1908
3Cited by4 opinions
- Ansell v. City of BostonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1926
- Taylor v. Inhabitants of SterlingMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1924
- Libby v. New York, New Haven & Hartford RailroadMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1931
- Andrew Dutton Co. v. City of BostonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1919