Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/287/287mass420.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 14:12:35+00:00

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MARIA TAVANO vs. CITY OF WORCESTER.
Present: CROSBY, PIERCE, FIELD, & DONAHUE, JJ.
The report of an auditor, to whom was referred, under a rule which provided that his findings of fact should be final, an action of tort against a city for personal injuries sustained when the plaintiff fell upon a wooden loading platform in the control of the city, sixty feet long and seven feet wide, located in a public way for use by persons boarding or alighting from street cars, included a finding for the plaintiff and set forth, as "defects in the platform capable of causing the plaintiff's injury," nails which protruded, but with no statement as to how far they protruded; water-soaked and slippery boards, and difference in level of adjacent boards varying from nothing to one inch and in one instance two inches. There also was a finding that "otherwise, in a general way, the platform was in good repair." There was no finding as to the precise place on the platform where the plaintiff fell or as to the location or identity of the defects with reference to the place where the plaintiff fell or the condition of the platform there, or whether the plaintiff slipped or tripped. There was a finding that "either the slipperiness of the boards or the irregularities of the surface, or the presence of some protruding nails interfered with the plaintiff's walking and caused her to fall," but no specific finding of the cause of the fall.
(2) The judgment properly was ordered.
TORT for personal injuries resulting from a fall alleged to have been caused by a defect in a public way. Writ dated March 28, 1932.
In the Superior Court, the action was heard by Whiting, J., upon the auditor's report described in the opinion. Judgment for the defendant was ordered. The plaintiff appealed.
F. P. McKeon, (N. Fusaro with him,) for the plaintiff.
W. D. Allen, City Solicitor, for the defendant.
DONAHUE, J. The plaintiff fell while rightfully on a wooden loading platform located in a public street and used by persons boarding or alighting from street cars. A judge of the Superior Court, who heard the case on the report of an auditor, made under a rule which provided that the auditor's findings of fact should be final, ordered judgment for the defendant on the report. The plaintiff appealed from that order. It was agreed by the parties that the defendant had the duty of maintaining the platform in a reasonably safe condition for travellers and that proper notice of the alleged defect was given to the defendant.
clusion that one of those conditions, which one the auditor was unable to determine, caused the fall of the plaintiff.
The auditor found for the plaintiff and assessed her damages. He did not specifically find that all or any of the three conditions, one of which caused her fall, amounted to defects. If we assume that he made such a finding by reason of the general finding for the plaintiff and his finding that the conditions recited in his general description of the platform were "defects . . . capable of causing the plaintiff's injury," still the plaintiff cannot recover. The city was under no obligation to furnish a perfect platform and fulfilled its statutory duty if the platform was reasonably safe and convenient for travel. The mere existence of a defect in a highway which is capable of causing injury to a traveller does not impose liability upon a city. Such liability is not established in a case founded on the highway statute unless it is proven that a defect existed which caused injury to the plaintiff (Kingsbury v. Dedham, 13 Allen 186, 190; Witham v. Boston, 262 Mass. 291), and unless it is also proven that the defect was of such a character that by the exercise of the required care and diligence the city would have known of the defect and should have remedied it. G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 84, s. 15. Stone v. Boston, 280 Mass. 31, 34. If we should assume that there was in the platform at the place where the plaintiff fell a defect capable of causing injury to her and that such defect did in fact cause her injury, the facts found by the auditor do not warrant a finding for the plaintiff.
as to the extent to which any nail protruded (see Boudreau v. Springfield, 257 Mass. 105; Cataldo v. Boston, 263 Mass. 330). The surface of the platform generally was water-soaked and slippery as the result of rain. The use of wood as the material of which the platform was constructed cannot be held unsafe or unreasonable even though some slipperiness following rainfalls is an incident to such use. See Cannon v. Brookline, 256 Mass. 468. The construction of the platform was not such as to collect water at any one place. There was no finding as to when the rain fell which resulted in a slippery surface on the platform, nor that there was any other condition at the spot where the plaintiff slipped, if she did slip, which contributed with the rain to cause slipperiness. The mere fact that the surface of the platform had become slippery through rain, in the circumstances here appearing, does not warrant the finding that a defect thereby existed which was of such a character as to make the defendant liable. Spillane v. Fitchburg, 177 Mass. 87. Newton v. Worcester, 174 Mass. 181. Stanton v. Springfield, 12 Allen 566. Compare Cromarty v. Boston, 127 Mass. 329; Kelleher v. Newburyport, 227 Mass. 462.

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