282 Mass. 540 | Mass. | 1933
An automobile, described in the record as a coupe, driven by the defendant in a northerly direction on a highway between Bristol and Warren in the State of Rhode Island, collided with a smaller automobile which was being driven in the opposite direction by the plaintiff’s intestate, James Jackson, who was killed in the collision. The only eyewitness of the occurrence who testified was the defendant, he having been called by the plaintiff. If his testimony were believed in its entirety he is not chargeable with negligence; but the jury were not bound to give it that much credit. There was further testimony descriptive of tire and other marks left by each automobile in the vicinity of the collision and testimony as to signs and marks of contact and damage on the two automobiles,
1. The accident happened about midnight on a rainy misty night; the road was wet; mist gathered on the windshields of automobiles; visibility was poor; from his seat in an automobile a driver could just see the white line which was painted in the center of the macadam road. The defendant and three companions had during the evening visited several dance halls and were on their way home. The defendant and two of his companions were seated on the front seat and the fourth sat in the lap of one of the others. There was evidence from which it could be found that the defendant was under the influence of intoxicating liquor. The macadamized portion of the road was nineteen feet wide and there were dirt shoulders on each side. The defendant saw the lights of the Jackson automobile approaching at a distance of one hundred fifty feet and saw the automobile itself when it was seventy-five feet away, at which time the defendant’s coupe was travelling at the rate of thirty to thirty-three miles an hour. The defendant’s coupe was then on the easterly half of the macadam, which would be the right hand side of the road in the direction in which the defendant was going. Shortly after seeing Jackson’s automobile the defendant drove his coupe to his right on to the dirt shoulder and proceeded along the shoulder entirely off the macadam for a distance of twenty-five or thirty feet where it grazed a tree on the roadside seven feet and five inches from the easterly edge of the macadam. It then proceeded along the dirt shoulder eighteen or nineteen feet farther where the right wheel passed over a stone and struck a tree stump which was four feet and nine inches from the easterly edge of the macadam. Then without stopping it turned in a westerly direction, crossed the entire width of the macadam and came to a stop on the westerly side of the road and headed west. The defendant testified that the Jackson
The Jackson automobile when first seen by the defendant was proceeding on the westerly half of the macadam and there was evidence which warranted the finding that there the collision occurred. On that part of the road was the greater part of .the broken glass resulting from the contact of the vehicles, and, as might be found, were marks along the surface of the street made by spokes of a wheel of the Jackson car after it was broken in the collision. The location and character of marks and indications of contact and damage on both automobiles might have been found to be consistent with the Jackson car being struck while on the westerly part of the macadam by the defendant’s coupe in its course across the street as earlier described. The Rhode Island statute prescribing the duty of travellers with vehicles who meet on a highway was in evidence (G. L. of R. I. (1923) c. 99, § 1). It is substantially the same as the Massachusetts statute (G. L. [Ter. Ed.] c. 89, § 1). While there was evidence on which the jury might have reached a contrary conclusion, we cannot say that there was not warrant for the finding that the collision occurred in the manner contended by the plaintiff. On such a finding it was for the jury to decide whether the defendant was negligent. It could not have been ruled as matter of law that the defendant’s burden of proving contributory negligence of Jackson had been sustained.
2. Two automobile repairmen of long experience in the examination and repair of automobiles which had been in collision, examined both vehicles shortly after the accident. They described at length the location and character of numerous signs and marks of contact and damage which they observed. Under the defendant’s exceptions they were permitted to give their opinions, based solely on such observations, of the manner in which the two vehicles came in contact. The ground of the objection was that the questions asked “called for an opinion on a matter as to which there
3. A right of action was given by a Rhode Island statute to the plaintiff as administratrix for the wrongful act of the defendant committed within that State causing the death of the intestate, who was her husband. Rhode Island G. L. (1923) c. 333, § 14, provides that whenever the death of a person shall be caused by a wrongful act, neglect or default
The defendant does not argue that the right of action created by the Rhode Island statute was not properly put in suit by the plaintiff in our courts. His sole contention on this branch of the case is that damages should have been assessed with reference to the degree of his culpability as provided by our statute giving a right of action for the death of a person wrongfully caused in this State. It is “the right
The source of the defendant’s obligation, and of the plaintiff’s rights is the statute of Rhode Island. Unless public policy or similar considerations prevent, she should be permitted in our courts to enforce those rights. Hanlon v. Frederick Leyland & Co. Ltd. 223 Mass. 438, 441. The Legislature of Rhode Island in first enacting the statute and thus creating a liability where none existed at common law did not merely define a new tort. It also declared the consequences to one who should commit that tort by including in its enactment a provision for damages. The statute fixes both the right and the extent of the right given. There is no sound reason why our courts, if they enforce such a right at all should not enforce it in its entirety. To substitute for the Rhode Island measure of damages the Massachusetts punitive formula for their ascertainment would produce a result which neither Legislature in the passing of the respective death statutes contemplated. Clearly the Massachusetts Legislature did not by its statute attempt to punish wrongful acts committed outside its borders, nor did the Rhode Island Legislature intend the imposition of other and far different consequences of the commission of the wrong defined than its enactment provides. In Massachusetts, when the first statute imposing liability for the wrongful causation of death was passed, the right created was originally prosecuted by an indictment. Although, now, recovery is had through the medium of an action of tort, damages for wrongfully causing death within the limits of the Commonwealth continue to be
The case was reported on an agreement of the parties in substance providing that if the judge was wrong either in applying the Rhode Island rule as to damages or in failing to direct a verdict for the defendant, further proceedings should be had in the Superior Court, otherwise the verdict of the jury for the plaintiff to stand. Since there was no error in either respect judgment is to be entered on the verdict.
So ordered.