340 Mass. 499 | Mass. | 1960
This is an action of tort in two counts, one for negligence and the other for gross negligence. The
The plaintiff seeks to recover damages for personal injuries sustained in an accident on the lower or street level of the Dudley Street station of the defendant on June 20, 1956. The evidence may be summarized as follows: The plaintiff, who was employed in a bank on Washington Street opposite the station, arrived by elevated train on the upper level of the station and went down a flight of stairs to the lower level. He had used this station regularly for over a year prior to the day of the accident and he was familiar with a turnstile exit which led from the station to Washington Street opposite the bank where he was employed. Located on the lower level was an areaway through which buses entered the station. There were no signs on the lower level indicating that the turnstile was an exit but, as we have said, the plaintiff knew of it. When the plaintiff reached the bottom of the stairs from the upper level it was not necessary to cross the bus area to get to the turnstile exit. On the morning of the accident he was not going directly to the bank but intended to go to a restaurant on Washington Street opposite the bank.
There were no signs on the lower level forbidding the use of the areaway as an exit but the plaintiff knew that there was a “No Admittance” sign on a fence on the outside of the areaway, facing the street, and that buses used this area to enter the lower level. As the plaintiff was crossing this areaway he was struck by an incoming bus and injured.
The issue in this case is the status of the plaintiff at the time he was injured. He was a passenger, a trespasser, or a licensee. In the opinion of a majority of the court he ceased to be a passenger when he attempted to cross this area.
We think that this case is governed by what is said in Legge v. New York, N. H. & H. R.R. 197 Mass. 88, at pages 89 and 90: “While it is true that a corporation operating a railroad is bound to use proper care to see that a
Cazneau v. Fitchburg R.R. 161 Mass. 355, upon which the plaintiff relies, is distinguishable for in that case the plaintiff was completely unfamiliar with the station and had never before used it.
Exceptions overruled.