Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/303/303mass242.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 14:54:28+00:00

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OLGA M. HOLTON vs. BOSTON ELEVATED RAILWAY COMPANY.
Evidence, that a passenger on a street railway car manned by a single operator sustained injuries from being pushed by an excessively intoxicated passenger whose condition and conduct were known to the operator when he was admitted and while in the car, and that the operator did nothing to prevent the injury, warranted a finding that the injuries were caused by negligence of the operator for which the street railway company was liable.
TORT. Writ in the Superior Court dated May 20, 1935.
A verdict for the plaintiff in the sum of $2,347.52 was recorded with leave reserved by Walsh, J., who then ordered entered a verdict for the defendant and reported the case to this court.
J. Kruger, (A. S. Gordon with him,) for the plaintiff.
Joseph Wentworth, (J. M. Hall with him,) for the defendant.
RONAN, J. The plaintiff recovered a verdict for personal injuries on account of being pushed off a car by an intoxicated passenger. The judge reserved leave, entered a verdict for the defendant, and reported the case to this court.
Considering the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, a jury could find the following facts: The plaintiff became a passenger upon one of the defendant's street cars, which was manned by a single employee. After the car had proceeded a short distance, it stopped at a regular stopping place. The plaintiff noticed that it had stopped for an unnecessarily long period and she saw an intoxicated man, who was talking in a loud voice and swearing, entering the car and assisting himself by taking hold of the bar at the front end. He was unsteady upon his feet, and after bumping into a post at the rear of the operator, he proceeded along the aisle, "hollering and swearing in a loud voice," bumping into passengers seated on both sides of the aisle, and sat in the seat directly behind the plaintiff. This seat was about fifteen feet from the front vestibule. The operator was looking toward this man as he went along the aisle, and did not start the car until the man was seated. This passenger rubbed the back of the seat occupied by the plaintiff and his hand came in contact with the plaintiff's back. The car reached the terminal in ten minutes after he had entered it, but during that time he continued to talk and swear in a loud voice. When the car arrived at the terminal, the plaintiff stood up and started to leave, when this passenger pushed her. She told him to stop pushing. He proceeded directly behind her as she was going toward the front door. He again pushed her and she again requested him to stop. As she was reaching for the bar in the center of the door to assist her in alighting, this intoxicated passenger pushed her, throwing her from the vestibule of the car onto the station platform; she landed in a sitting position, and her left leg, which was buckled up beneath her, was broken.
It is settled by our decisions that a common carrier is bound to use the same degree of vigilance and care in guarding and protecting a passenger from all dangers and perils that might ordinarily and naturally be encountered during his transportation, including any annoyance, violence or harm that may reasonably be expected from other passengers, as is required in the maintenance of its tracks, cars and equipment, in the selection, regulation and supervision of its employees, and in the conduct, control and management of its business. Our law recognizes but a single uniform standard of care that a carrier in all the various aspects of its business is required to exercise toward its passengers. Simmons v. New Bedford, Vineyard & Nantucket Steamboat Co. 97 Mass. 361. Dodge v. Boston & Bangor Steamship Co. 148 Mass. 207, 218. Nichols v. Lynn & Boston Railroad, 168 Mass. 528. Kuhlen v. Boston & Northern Street Railway, 193 Mass. 341. Beverley v. Boston Elevated Railway, 194 Mass. 450. Glennen v. Boston Elevated Railway, 207 Mass. 497.
Steamship Co. 148 Mass. 207, 217, 218. Gardner v. Boston Elevated Railway, 204 Mass. 213, 216, 217. Donahoe v. Boston Elevated Railway, 214 Mass. 70. Bilodeau v. Fitchburg & Leominster Street Railway, 236 Mass. 526. Fitzgerald v. Boston Elevated Railway, 274 Mass. 287. Turner v. Berkshire Street Railway, 292 Mass. 313. The defendant's liability depends upon whether the plaintiff has shown that the defendant's employee, in permitting the intoxicated person to become and remain a passenger up to the time of the plaintiff's injury without doing anything to prevent its occurrence, did not exercise the standard of care that has been mentioned. Of course, the defendant was not an insurer of the plaintiff's safety, and the mere occurrence of such an accident does not establish the defendant's liability. Joy v. Winnisimmet Co. 114 Mass. 63. Jacobs v. West End Street Railway, 178 Mass. 116. McCumber v. Boston Elevated Railway, 207 Mass. 559, 563.
passenger upon a car and the fact that he had caused an injury to another passenger. It cannot be said as matter of law that the failure of the one in control of a drunken person to restrain him under such supervision that he cannot possibly harm another makes the one in charge absolutely liable if such harm results. Topping v. Eastern Massachusetts Street Railway, 252 Mass. 270, 273. Liquor affects individuals in various ways and it is sometimes difficult to determine degrees of intoxication. "Whatever difficulties there may be in framing with precision a definition of the extent of inebriety which falls short of and which constitutes drunkenness, there is a distinction between that crime on the one hand and merely being under the influence of liquor on the other hand, which is recognized in common speech, in ordinary experience, and in judicial decisions." Cutter v. Cooper, 234 Mass. 307, 317, 318. Commonwealth v. Hughes, 133 Mass. 496. Commonwealth v. Lyseth, 250 Mass. 555. But the manifestations of intoxication may present different aspects. While it might not be easy accurately to describe each and every minute detail indicative of intoxication, yet the principal objective symptoms are so well known that witnesses have always been permitted to express their opinion as to the inebriety of a person. Edwards v. Worcester, 172 Mass. 104. Gorham v. Moor, 197 Mass. 522, 524.
Railway, 232 Mass. 549; Franz v. Holyoke Street Railway, 239 Mass. 565.
There was evidence that there was no intoxicated man aboard the car and that the plaintiff slipped from the car to the station platform as she was alighting. But as there was sufficient evidence to sustain the verdict for the plaintiff, we cannot, as the defendant urges, pass upon the credibility of witnesses or the weight of the evidence. Emery v. Emery, 222 Mass. 439. Corson v. Comiskey, 250 Mass. 398.
Judgment on the verdict returned by the jury.

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