292 Mass. 529 | Mass. | 1935
This is an action of tort arising out of a collision between an automobile, operated by the plaintiff, and a street car of the defendant. At the close of the evidence the defendant filed a motion that upon all the evidence a verdict be directed for the defendant. The motion was denied; the defendant duly excepted; the case was submitted to the jury and the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff.
The evidence contained in the record in its aspect most favorable to the plaintiff's contentions warranted the finding of facts in substance as follows: The accident occurred
There were in evidence certain photographic exhibits of the locus and certain answers of the defendant to interrogatories propounded by the plaintiff. From these ex
The evidence for the plaintiff, above noted, established that the plaintiff travelled on the Salem-bound track thirty to forty feet at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, that his automobile then turned at an angle in front of an on-coming car on the Lynn-bound track, and went a distance of about twelve feet onto that track. The operator of the car had no reason to anticipate that the automobile proceeding on the first set of rails would seek to pass over the second set of rails rather than return to the highway from which this automobile had been driven. It follows that the operator owed no duty to the driver of the automobile to stop the car as it descended the hill or to act otherwise than he did act when the automobile was turned suddenly onto the second track and in front of the on-coming electric car. Ducharme v. Holyoke Street Railway, 203 Mass. 384, 395. Larkin v. Boston Elevated Railway, 253 Mass. 318. Gibson v. Union Street Railway, 283 Mass. 433.
It need not be considered whether or not the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence in leaving the Salem-bound track to pass upon the Lynn-bound track without greater care than he exercised to ascertain whether an electric car was approaching.
A verdict for the defendant should have been directed on the ground that in the circumstances the defendant owed no duty to the plaintiff which it failed to perform.
Exceptions sustained.
Judgment for the defendant.