Opinion ID: 2144591
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: exceptions of defendant jalbert.

Text: The defendant Jalbert contends that he was entitled to directed verdicts because there was no evidence that he was either owner or keeper of the zebra. There was, he argues, no more than a bald identity of name without confirmatory facts or circumstances. If this was all that the evidence showed, it would not be sufficient to prove identity. Herman v. Fine, 314 Mass. 67, 68. Lodge v. Congress Taxi Assn. Inc. 340 Mass. 570, 574. But the proof went beyond this. In his answers to interrogatories, Jalbert admitted that he was the keeper of a zebra on the Exposition Grounds on or about September 16, 1960. Thomas M. Glynn, Jr., vice-president of Breck, testified that on the day of the accident he met one Ervin Jalbert of Old Orchard Beach, Maine, and that Jalbert told him that he was in charge of the exhibit. Jalbert stated in his answers to interrogatories that he resided in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, and that his occupation was amusement park manager. Officer Hubert of the West Springfield police department testified that he went to the Breck plant after receiving a call that a zebra was loose in the plant and while there he met one Ervine Jalbert; that Jalbert told him that he was manager of the show and totally responsible for it while it was at the Exposition Grounds; and that Jalbert was in the cab of the truck which took the crated zebra back to the Exposition Grounds. The foregoing evidence amply warranted a finding that Jalbert was the keeper of the zebra on the day that it escaped. The liability of one keeping a wild animal has been dealt with above. His motions for directed verdicts were rightly denied.