319 Mass. 167 | Mass. | 1946
The plaintiff, at about nine o’clock on the evening of May 7, 1942, entered and sat in the rear seat of an automobile owned by the defendant Morse, which was parked at a taxi stand in Cushing Square in Belmont, after the operator, the defendant Rowe, who was seated back of the wheel, had opened the door for her to enter. She directed him to drive her to 78 Long Avenue, where she resided. The telephone at the taxi stand rang and Rowe left the automobile to answer it. He then returned to the automobile, and the plaintiff again told where she wished to go. She lived only about seven tenths of a mile away. Rowe proceeded along Common Street. Long Avenue intersects Common Street on the right and is beyond the junction of
Rowe, who was admittedly the employee of the defendant Morse, having undertaken for hire to convey the plaintiff, was bound to use reasonable care to transport her safely to her destination, and reasonable care in this respect has been said to be the highest degree of care consistent with the proper accomplishment of the business. Hinds v. Steere, 209 Mass. 442. Guinevan v. Checker Taxi Co. 289 Mass. 295.
The jury were not required to find that Rowe gave any explanation to the plaintiff for turning off from Common Street, and they could find that he knew that the plaintiff had become frightened and was preparing to jump if he did not stop the vehicle. He testified that he knew that it was
The defendants contend that the plaintiff had no reasonable cause for alarm and that she was guilty of contributory negligence. We are not prepared to say that the plaintiff ought not to have been frightened to the extent that the evidence indicates she was. According to her testimony, her demands to stop were unheeded; her threat to jump was disregarded; and she was ignorant of the purpose of the operator in turning off the main highway. Apparently, everything indicated to her that the operator, who was a stranger to her, intended to continue along this side street. His intent to continue despite her protests could be found only to have added to her bewilderment and fear and to have reasonably caused her to become apprehensive that her personal safety might be endangered unless she leaped from the automobile, which was the only avenue of escape available to her. The street was dark on account of the black-out regulations and the heavy mist. Whether she was negligent in jumping from the automobile is to be determined by the situation as it then appeared to her. If she acted suddenly in the face of what she mistakenly but reasonably regarded as an imminent and serious danger to her personal security, her conduct in attempting to avert this danger by leaving
Defendants’ exceptions overruled.
Plaintiff’s exceptions dismissed.