303 Mass. 379 | Mass. | 1939
This is an action of tort to recover compensation for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff, on November 28, 1934, while he was a passenger on one of the defendant’s street cars. The case was tried to a jury. At the close of the evidence the defendant filed a motion for a directed verdict, which was allowed by the judge subject to the plaintiff’s exception.
There was evidence that at the time of the accident the plaintiff, who was then a student at the High School of
It is well settled that a street railway company is not liable for injuries to passengers resulting from ordinary jolts and jerks of a street car in starting and stopping, "however vituperatively described.” Seidenberg v. Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, 266 Mass. 540, 542, 543, and cases cited.
The only evidence of the manner in which the car stopped is that it stopped "suddenly.” This descriptive word does not by itself afford a basis for a finding that the operator of the car was negligent. Conley v. Town Taxi, Inc. 298 Mass. 130, 131, and cases cited. Commonly, negligence cannot be inferred from the mere happening of an accident, Marshall v. Carter, 301 Mass. 372, 378, and the doctrine of res ipso loquitur does not apply to the facts in the case at bar. Conley v. Town Taxi, Inc. 298 Mass. 130, 132.
The fact that the plaintiff was thrown to the floor of the car, in the absence of evidence as to his state of balance when the car stopped suddenly, does not warrant a finding that the movements of the car were unusual or extraordinary. Phinney v. Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, 285 Mass. 207, 209, and cases cited. There is no evidence that any hold of the plaintiff on a strap or other part of the car was broken by its stopping suddenly. Seidenberg v. Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, 266 Mass. 540, 543. Compare McRae v. Boston Elevated Railway, 276 Mass. 82, 83. Nor
Exceptions overruled.