211 Mass. 171 | Mass. | 1912
This is an action for personal injuries received by the plaintiff while a traveller from a defect in a highway. The only question to be decided is whether in such an action the plaintiff is entitled to an instruction to the effect that in ascertaining
The extent and magnitude of the injury are not infrequently unappreciated and incapable of reasonable ascertainment on the day it is received.' Its degree of permanence is often deceptive at the first, and commonly the determination of conditions requisite for recovery is materially assisted by the perspective of time. The most helpful aids in learning the nature and degree of actual injury may be events occurring after the event complained of. There is no fixed standard by which the compensation to be awarded can be measured. Its general rules have been stated many times. The sum of money fixed upon must be such as fairly compensates the injured person for the loss of time, the physical pain and the mental suffering, both that undergone in the past and likely to occur in the future, and also money reasonably expended and to be
It has been the practice in this Commonwealth not to extend the rule of Frazer v. Bigelow Carpet Co., supra, to cases of this sort. Although the custom has been firmly established and continuous not to allow enhancement of damages by reason of delay, and personal injury actions have been very numerous for many years, the question has never been presented before for consideration. The grounds against such an extension of allowance of interest appear conclusive. This view is supported by the great weight of authority in other jurisdictions. Railroad v. Wallace, 91 Tenn. 35. Burrows v. Lownsdale, 133 Fed. Rep. 250. Jacobson v. United States Gypsum Co. 150 Iowa, 330, 339. Arkansas & Louisiana Railroad v. Stroude, 82 Ark. 117, 127. Fell v. Union Pacific Railway, 32 Utah, 101, 111. Ratteree v. Chapman, 79 Ga. 574, 581. Sargent v. Hampden, 38 Maine, 581. Western & Atlantic
Exceptions overruled.