311 Mass. 521 | Mass. | 1942
This action of tort was brought in a District Court to recover compensation for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff as a result of a collision between the automobile in which she was riding as a passenger and an automobile operated by the defendant. There was a finding for the defendant. No special findings were made. The plaintiff made fifteen requests for rulings, of which thirteen, numbered 3 to 15, were granted, and two, numbered 1 and 2, were refused. A report to the Appellate Division was dismissed and the plaintiff appealed to this court.
The two requests for rulings that were refused raised in somewhat different form the question whether, upon all the evidence, a finding for the plaintiff was required as matter of law. The request numbered 2. specified the grounds upon which the request was based. See Rule 27 of the District Courts (1940). Neither of these requests was a request for a ruling that the evidence warranted a finding for the plaintiff. See Howard v. Malden Savings Bank, 300 Mass. 208, 211. There was no error in the refusal of these requests. The evidence need not be recited. To some extent, at least, it was contradictory. But, whether contradictory or not, its credibility and weight and the permissible inferences to be drawn therefrom were questions of fact for the trial judge. There was no evidence binding upon the defendant that required a finding for the plaintiff. And the plaintiff was not aggrieved by the granting of her other thirteen requests. Baker v. Davis, 299 Mass. 345, 348. No other question of law is reported.
The plaintiff, however, contends that the trial judge did not deal properly with the case because he made no special findings and did not indicate by his rulings the ground upon which the case was decided. There is no merit in this contention. It is the duty of a trial judge sitting without a
The specification of the grounds upon which the requested ruling numbered 2 was based did not call for a separate ruling of law upon each of the specified grounds. This requested ruling upon all the evidence was a single ruling with the reasons therefor specified, and the trial judge did all that was required of him when he dealt with it as a unit. As already stated, he dealt with it correctly by refusing it. Furthermore, even if each of the grounds specified were to be considered as calling for a separate ruling of law, the evidence did not require a finding for the plaintiff upon any specified ground decisive of the case. Halnan v. New England Telephone & Telegraph Co. 296 Mass. 219, 223.
The trial judge, moreover, was not required to make special findings of fact with respect to the grounds specified in request numbered 2. There is nothing in the case to take it out of the ordinary rule that a trial judge is not required, even upon request, to make special findings of fact. The last paragraph of Rule 27 of the District Courts (1940), providing that “Whenever any request for rulings, founded upon evidence, shall be refused upon the ground that it is inconsistent with or inapplicable to the facts found, or because the facts recited in the request are not found, the
The plaintiff makes the further contention that the refusal of request numbered 1, for a ruling that “On all the law the court should make a finding for the plaintiff,” is inconsistent with the granting of certain requests for rulings, particularly those numbered respectively 6, 7, 8 and 11. Request numbered 1, which was refused, was in substance a request for a ruling that on all the evidence a finding for the plaintiff was required as matter of law. Compare Mantalbano v. Goldman, 250 Mass. 268; Rizkalla v. Abusamra, 284 Mass. 303, 306. The request was not based upon special findings. At the time it was made there were no special findings. And, irrespective of special findings, there was no error in refusing this request. Burns v. Winchell, 305 Mass. 276, 282. Federal National Bank of Boston v. O’Connell, 305 Mass. 559, 565. However, requested rulings numbered 6 and 7, which were granted, apparently were statements of general principles applicable
Order dismissing report affirmed.