Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/304/304mass580.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 09:59:56+00:00

Document:
LENA A. LONGLEY vs. CITY OF WORCESTER.
A finding for the plaintiff on a count of a declaration in an action against a municipality under G.L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 84, Section 15, for personal injuries caused by a fall due to a hole in a travelled way was not warranted where it appeared that the hole was outside the limits of a public way and was at a rail of the middle of three tracks of a railroad at a grade crossing.
The nonpermanent character of a right given a municipality to use land as a public way precluded a finding of a dedication to public use under G.L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 84, Sections 23, 24, and there could be no recovery against the municipality under Section 24 for personal injuries caused by a defect in such a way.
A municipality cannot impose upon itself, by contract with the owner of land giving it a temporary right to the use thereof as a way, liability for injury caused by a defect in the way.
TORT. Writ in the Superior Court dated March 15, 1937.
The declaration, as amended after the filing of an auditor's report, contained three counts, described in the opinion.
There was a general finding by Swift, J., for the plaintiff in the sum of $1,350. The defendant alleged exceptions.
A. W. McDonald, (H. E. Brown with him,) for the plaintiff.
COX, J. This case was heard by a judge of the Superior Court, sitting without jury, upon a stipulation that it might be heard upon the report of the auditor and other evidence. No further testimony, however, was taken. The parties agreed upon certain facts to which reference is hereinafter made. The judge denied certain requests of the defendant for rulings and found for the plaintiff.
Street, thence turn and run southwesterly by the line of Lincoln Street, ninety-four and ninety-seven one-hundredths feet to the northerly line of Lincoln Square, thence turn and run in a westerly direction on said northerly line, eighty-six and forty-five one-hundredths feet to the point of beginning. The width of this parcel from north to south at its widest place is approximately thirty feet. In the immediate area where the plaintiff is alleged to have fallen the width is approximately ten feet. Where the boundary line turns and runs southwesterly along the northwesterly line of Lincoln Street, it coincides for a distance of about thirteen feet with the northeasterly end of the curved boundary line. If, instead of the straight lines of Lincoln Street and Lincoln Square and the angle formed by their intersection, the southerly and southeasterly boundary lines were a curve, the shape of the parcel would be that of a crescent. The agreement provides that the defendant is to reimburse the railroad corporation for all money paid as taxes and assessments levied upon the parcel during the continuance of the agreement; that the railroad corporation, without expense to itself, is to make such alterations at the crossing within the limits of its location as may be reasonably required by the defendant for the accommodation of the sidewalk; that the defendant is to keep the sidewalk in proper repair "excepting between the rails," and that the railroad corporation "assumes no responsibility whatever for the maintenance, use, repair, renewal, removals or existence of said sidewalk upon the said leased premises, excepting between the rails." The agreement is to continue in force until terminated by the giving of thirty days' written notice by either party to the other of intention to terminate.
constructed a sidewalk across the particular locus." The auditor viewed the premises and reported that an examination of the locus clearly indicated that "the crossing is open to the public for foot traffic at the point where the accident occurred." He found that the plaintiff "so far as the . . . railroad is concerned, was a mere licensee . . . [and] took the premises as she found them." He also reported as a finding that the defendant, "as a result of this agreement with the railroad, was bound by the terms of the agreement in the same manner as it would have been if it had acquired the locus by purchase or taken it by eminent domain for sidewalk purposes"; that the defendant was negligent in failing to keep the premises in repair; and that its negligence was the sole cause of the plaintiff's injuries. At the trial before the judge, it was agreed that Lincoln Street and Lincoln Square are public ways and that no signs or warnings were posted at "the entrances of the leased premises or crosswalks," nor were other means taken to caution the public against entering thereon, nor was anything done to close "said ways"; that Prescott Street was paved to its full width with concrete, and the adjoining property, leased by the railroad corporation to the defendant, was surfaced with asphalt; that there was no visible demarcation of the boundary line between the leased premises and Lincoln Square "as laid out as a public way"; that the area between the western entrance to the railroad crossing and Prescott Street was used by pedestrians as a continuance of the public sidewalk and was part of the leased premises.
Square; that said way entered upon and united with two then existing public ways, Lincoln Square and Lincoln Street; and that the defendant had failed to comply with the provisions of Section 24 of said c. 84 requiring the closing of such a way or the cautioning of the public against its use. It is apparent that this count is framed under said Section 24. The third count alleges, in substance, that the plaintiff, through no fault of her own, was injured while a traveller upon Lincoln Square, a public way; that by reason of the agreement, hereinbefore described, the defendant assumed control "of a portion of Lincoln Square commonly used as a cross-walk over the railroad tracks between Lincoln Square and Lincoln Street"; that the cause of her injuries was a defective condition of this portion of the way, of which condition the defendant had notice.
strictly limited and peculiar. Oliver v. Worcester, 102 Mass. 489, 496. Hurlburt v. Great Barrington, 300 Mass. 524, 526. The defendant could not by contract enlarge its statutory liability in this respect. Gay v. Cambridge, 128 Mass. 387. Rouse v. Somerville, 130 Mass. 361.
2. G.L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 84, Section 23, provides that "A way opened and dedicated to the public use, which has not become a public way, shall not, except as provided in the two following sections, be chargeable upon a town as a highway or town way unless laid out and established in the manner prescribed by statute." Section 24 of said chapter provides: "The board or officer having authority over public ways in a town shall, if the public safety so requires, cause such ways to be closed where they enter upon and unite with an existing public way or may by other sufficient means caution the public against entering thereon; otherwise the town shall be liable for damages arising from defects therein as in the case of ways duly laid out and established." Section 25 of said chapter provides: "If, upon the trial of an indictment or action brought to recover damages for an injury received by reason of a defect or want of repair or want of sufficient railing in any way, it appears that the defendant has, within six years before such injury, made repairs on such way, it or he shall not deny the location thereof." The provisions of Section 25 have no application to the facts disclosed in the case at bar.
obviously was, that, while no new highways or town ways were to be made chargeable upon cities and towns, unless regularly laid out in the manner prescribed by law, there might be ways opened and laid out, connected with the public ways, and apparently themselves public ways, which travellers would have no means of knowing were not legally laid out and kept in repair as such; and, to prevent the possible consequences of a want of repair in a way of this description, if it was not safe to travel, cities and towns were required to close it up, or give notice that it was dangerous, or else be subject to the same liability for its condition as if it were a legal way." The provisions of Sections 23 and 24 do not affect ways that have been established by prescription. Jennings v. Tisbury, 5 Gray 73. Commonwealth v. Coupe, 128 Mass. 63. There is no finding and no evidence upon which a finding could be based that the alleged way had become public by prescription, see Sullivan v. Worcester, 232 Mass. 111, 115; Jennings v. Tisbury, 5 Gray 73, or that it had been laid out and established in the manner prescribed by statute.
the intent of the owner which must be made manifest by his unequivocal declarations or acts to appropriate his land to a public use and to surrender its control to the public. In the case at bar we are not concerned with the rights of owners who have purchased lots abutting on ways not public that have been sold with reference to a plan. See Hobart v. Towle, 220 Mass. 293; Stevens v. Young, 233 Mass. 304; Prentiss v. Gloucester, 236 Mass. 36; Bacon v. Onset Bay Grove Association, 241 Mass. 417; Dubinsky v. Cama, 261 Mass. 47, 55. It has been held that one who gives his land to the public may prescribe the terms and limitations of his gift and, if it is given for a special and limited use or purpose, as for a footway, it must be accepted and held for that use only. Hemphill v. Boston, 8 Cush. 195, 197. Morse v. Stocker, 1 Allen 150.
Was there a dedication in the case at bar? It may be said that the agreement between the railroad corporation and the defendant discloses the desire of the latter to maintain and use a sidewalk on the leased premises and also the willingness on the part of the railroad corporation in these respects. No question has been raised as to the right of the railroad corporation to grant a right of way over its location. The terms of the agreement, however, do not expressly require the defendant to construct a sidewalk and there is no evidence that it ever did so, or, if it did, that it ever made any repairs upon it. There is no evidence that the railroad corporation ever constructed a sidewalk upon the parcel in question although it was agreed that Prescott Street was paved to its full width with concrete "and the adjoining property leased by the railroad to the city was surfaced with asphalt."
condition imposed at the very outset, the way may be closed at any time upon notice from the owner of the land. This is a condition that is inconsistent with the idea of a permanent abandonment of one's property to public use. See Curtis v. Boston, 247 Mass. 417, 426. It was said in Dawes v. Hawkins, 8 C. B. (N.S.) 848, at page 858: "It is clear that there can be no dedication of a way to the public for a limited time, certain or uncertain. If dedicated at all, it must be dedicated in perpetuity." Couture v. County of Dade, 93 Fla. 342, 352, 353. See San Francisco v. Canavan, 42 Cal. 541, 553; Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Co. v. Bachman, 66 N.Y. 261. In our opinion there was no dedication of the parcel of land in question upon which the plaintiff fell so as to bring the case within the provisions of said Sections 23 and 24, and it follows that the plaintiff is not entitled to recover under her second count.
in repair, and that Pub. Sts. c. 49, Section 95 (the provisions of which are substantially the same as G.L. [Ter. Ed.] c. 84, Section 24) had no application to the case. See Smith v. Wendell, 7 Cush. 498; Hayden v. Attleborough, 7 Gray 338; Stockwell v. Fitchburg, 110 Mass. 305; Sullivan v. Boston, 126 Mass. 540; Abihider v. Springfield, 277 Mass. 125; Lucianelli v. Newton, 288 Mass. 535.
3. The plaintiff cannot recover upon the third count of her declaration. The liability of the defendant for defects in its ways, as already pointed out, is wholly statutory and no contract entered into by it can diminish or enlarge that liability. Gay v. Cambridge, 128 Mass. 387, 388. Rouse v. Somerville, 130 Mass. 361.
It follows that the trial judge should have given the seventh ruling requested by the defendant, "That on all the evidence the defendant is not liable to the plaintiff in this action." See Forbes v. Gordon & Gerber, Inc. 298 Mass. 91, 95.

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