132 Mass. 441 | Mass. | 1882
The evidence shows that the plaintiff was injured by falling into a ditch, which was in the highway between the sidewalk and carriageway, and formed part of the highway, and which the plaintiff in her declaration alleges the defendant had negligently left uncovered. The only question before us is, whether the notice given by the plaintiff to the defendant town is sufficient. The notice particularly states the time and place of the injury, and the only objection made to it is that it does not give notice of the cause.
The statute requires a person injured to give notice of the time, place and cause of the injury. In Noonan v. Lawrence, 130
In the case at bar, the cause of the injury was the ditch, which was a part of the highway, and constituted a defect in it. The notice states, in effect, that the plaintiff, while walking along the street at a certain point, being the place where the ditch was, was thrown into the ditch through the negligence of the defendant in not keeping the street and ditch in repair, and was injured thereby. This contains two substantive statements : that the plaintiff was injured by being thrown into the ditch; and that she was thrown into the ditch through the defective condition of the street and ditch. This is substantially stating that the cause of the injury was the ditch, and that the ditch was a defect. The meaning is sufficiently plain, that the plaintiff was injured by falling into a ditch in the highway, which was a defect, and caused the street to be defective, and we think that the statute requiring notice to be given of the time, place