Case Name: Donald Sawyer vs. Hawkridge Brothers Company (and a companion case)
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Decision Date: 1970-06-05
Citations: 357 Mass. 779
Docket Number: 
Parties: Donald Sawyer vs. Hawkridge Brothers Company (and a companion case ).
Judges: 
Reporter: Massachusetts Reports
Volume: 357
Pages: 779–779

Head Matter:
Donald Sawyer vs. Hawkridge Brothers Company (and a companion case ).
June 5, 1970.
John J. C. Herlihy for the defendant.
Paul R. Sugarman for the plaintiffs.
Thomas Borgal vs. Hawkridge Brothers Company.

Opinion:
The plaintiffs in these actions of tort seek recovery for personal injuries sustained on December 4, 1963, as a result of an explosion while they were performing electrical work on the soot blower of the boiler located on the defendant's premises. There was evidence that the tubes in the blower system should have been "cleaned manually once a month," but that they were not cleaned from 1959 until December, 1963. There was also evidence that the defendant had not delegated to any of its employees the responsibility of inspecting the boiler and had not taken any measures "to determine what, if any, hazards there were surrounding the operation of shutting the electricity off to the soot blower and the boiler manually and then restarting it." In the instant case operating the soot blower under the conditions prevailing in the boiler was a hazard which the defendant knew or should have known. Carpenter v. Sinclair Ref. Co. 237 Mass. 230, 234. The defendant excepted to the denial of its motions for directed verdicts. The evidence was sufficient to warrant sending the cases to the jury. The plaintiffs did not assume the risk of a dust explosion in repairing the soot blower of the boiler. Thompson v. United Labs. Co. 221 Mass. 276, 280. The motions for directed verdicts were rightly denied.
Exceptions overruled.