Opinion ID: 517590
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: violation of the statute

Text: 6 The Federal Tort Claims Act lifts the cover of sovereign immunity from the United States and subjects the government to liability ex delicto based on the law of the state in which the tort was committed. 28 U.S.C. Secs. 1346(b), 2674. In Massachusetts, violating a safety statute does not, as a general rule, constitute negligence per se. Irwin v. Town of Ware, 392 Mass. 745, 467 N.E.2d 1292, 1305 (1984); LaClair v. Silberline Mfg. Co., 379 Mass. 21, 393 N.E.2d 867, 871 (1979). Nevertheless, such a violation can be evidence of negligence. E.g., LaClair, 393 N.E.2d at 871; Adamian v. Three Sons, Inc., 353 Mass. 498, 233 N.E.2d 18, 19 (1968). In other words, proof that a statute has been violated constitutes some evidence of negligence as to all consequences that statute was intended to prevent. Adamian, 233 N.E.2d at 19. 7 Implicit in the foregoing formulation is the question of the effect of a violation vis-a-vis the essential elements of a common law tort action: duty, breach, causation (actual and proximate), and damages. This framework has particular pertinence in Massachusetts, where common law tort analysis continues in vogue even with respect to torts based on statutory infractions. See Wiska v. St. Stanislaus Social Club, Inc., 7 Mass.App.Ct. 813, 390 N.E.2d 1133, 1135 (1979). In order to make out a tort stemming from a statutory violation, a party still must prove every element of the claim. See, e.g., Cimino v. Milford Keg, Inc., 385 Mass. 323, 431 N.E.2d 920, 924 (1982) (requiring evidence of statutory violation to find breach); Wiska, 390 N.E.2d at 1136 (noting failure to prove causation, actual or proximate). Even so, the road is paved with a series of caveats: for instance, breaches of different statutes do not necessarily have the same effect on the myriad of tort actions which may be premised in those violations; and moreover, a particular violation need not necessarily carry the same weight in respect to each element of a tort claim. Accordingly, our analysis in this case must be anchored not in bright-line generalities, but in a specific application of a somewhat flexible set of rules. 8 Let us be precise. The tort claims upon which this case is centered have their roots in the disregard of a statute governing the sale of alcoholic beverages: Mass.Gen.L. ch. 138, Sec. 69. 2 The Massachusetts courts have found common law liability premised in the first of the three statutory subsections, i.e., sale of alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated individual. E.g., Cimino, 431 N.E.2d at 923-24. The state courts have not ruled on the issue presented by the third subsection, id. 431 N.E.2d at 924 n. 5 (declining to reach question), and, given the repeal, see supra note 2, it is not likely that the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) will have an opportunity to do so in the future. We are thus faced, as was the court below, with the task of interpreting state law and deciding whether transgression of the particular subsection can fully ground a common law negligence action.