317 Mass. 307 | Mass. | 1944
In this action of tort the defendant rested at the conclusion of the plaintiff’s evidence and made a motion for a directed verdict which was denied subject to her exception. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff.
It could have been found that on March 3, 1943, at about 11:30 a.m., the plaintiff was, a passenger in an automobile owned by her and operated by her husband which had collided with an automobile which was referred to in the testimony as the “Boudreau car.” The collision occurred on Huntington Avenue, Boston, near the intersection of Louis Prang Street. The “Boudreau car,” after the collision, was
While the plaintiff was thus engaged, an automobile alleged to have been operated by the defendant (which for convenience will be hereinafter referred to as the defendant’s automobile) in "slurring around”
The accident happened on the north side of Huntington Avenue which was reserved for one-way (west-bound) traffic. The space between the curbing and the reservation which separates the west-bound lane from the east-bound lane was twenty feet. It had been "snowing or raining” earlier in the day and the “roadbed was very slippery, . . . conditions were bad, [and] it was icy.”
The denial of the defendant’s motion for a directed verdict was error.
Since it does not affect the result, we assume, without deciding, that the defendant was sufficiently identified as the operator or owner of the automobile involved in the accident. The evidence fails to show that the plaintiff was injured by any negligence of the defendant or of anyone for whose conduct she was legally responsible. It has been held repeatedly by this court that "the mere skidding of a motor vehicle, unexplained, is not evidence of negligence.” Goyette v. Amor, 294 Mass. 355, 357. Folan v. Price, 293 Mass. 76, 78. Lambert v. Eastern Massachusetts Street
The defendant’s exceptions are sustained and pursuant to G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 231, § 124, judgment is to be entered for the defendant.
So ordered.
We construe this to mean (as the plaintiff does in her brief) that the defendant’s automobile skidded.