200 Mass. 403 | Mass. | 1909
This is an action of tort at common law to recover damages for the conscious suffering of the plaintiff’s intestate from injuries alleged to have been caused by the defendant’s negligence, and from which he shortly after died. In the Superior Court at the close of the evidence for the plaintiff, upon
We are of opinion that under these conditions the plaintiff cannot recover.
There is no evidence of any defect in the ways or instrumentalities used, and in the general management of its road the defendant had the right to construct and equip its freight house and to conduct its business in the manner described.
It is not contended that the decedent was not possessed of ordinary powers of observation sufficient to enable him in the light of his experience to understand and fully appreciate the dangers incidental to the environment in which he was employed. The peculiar perils to which he was exposed in sealing cars on the first track, whether arising from insufficient light or the passing of cars or engines, were not only obvious but must have been known to him, and he also knew or ought to have known that, if his fellow servants negligently failed to give warning of an approaching car or engine, he was exposed to great danger as they passed, on account of the probability of their coming into contact with the ladder on which he must
Exceptions overruled.