318 Mass. 642 | Mass. | 1945
On August 29, 1940, a collision occurred at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Ruggles Street, Boston, between an automobile of which Joseph Korsun was the operator and his wife, the plaintiff Ethel Korsun, was the owner and an occupant, and an automobile owned and operated by William K. McManus in which the plaintiff Cadigan was an occupant. Out of this collision arose these four actions of tort, (1) by Ethel Korsmi against Mc-Manus, (2) by McManus against Joseph Korsun, both for personal injuries and property damage, (3) by Cadigan against Joseph Korsun for personal injuries, and (4) by Joseph Korsun against McManus for personal injuries and consequential damages resulting from injuries to his wife. In the actions against McManus at the close of the evidence the jury returned verdicts for the defendant by order of the judge, and the Korsuns excepted. In the actions against Korsun the jury returned verdicts for the plaintiffs, and gave an affirmative answer to the question, “Was the defendant Korsun negligent at the time of the happening of this accident?” In the latter actions the Korsun exceptions relate to the exclusion of evidence, to the denial of his requests for instructions, and to the charge.
We first consider the direction of verdicts in the cases brought by the Korsuns. There was evidence warranting a finding that both operators and both occupants were in
Counsel for McManus strongly urges that if there was error, it was cured by the verdicts against Korsun, which established the due care of McManus, and by the answer of the jury that Korsun was negligent. This contention is untenable. As to the cases in which the Korsuns were plaintiffs, the trial ended with the direction of the verdicts, and the correctness of this ruling in each case must be judged without reference to the subsequent results in the other cases, which were independent proceedings. See Lumiansky v. Tessier, 213 Mass. 182, 188; Jordan Marsh Co. v. Barry, 295 Mass. 210, 213. See also McNamara v. Boston & Maine Railroad, 202 Mass. 491, 499. As to the cases against Korsun, the charge, to which he took appropriate exceptions, in substance instructed the jury that Korsun was negligent as matter of law because of the manner of registration, and left it to them to say whether he was also negligent in the operation of the automobile, and whether
We do not consider the questions relating to evidence and the requests for instructions which probably will not arise at another trial.
Exceptions sustained.
See G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 207, §§ 6, 10.
The material part of the statute is: “The application [for registration of a motor vehicle] shall contain ... a statement of the name, place of residence and address of the applicant.”