Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

1 F.R.D. 18

Doucette v. Howe

Massachusetts District Court

Decided September 25, 1939

Massachusetts District Court · decided 1939-09-25

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1939-09-25

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently March 1967

2 district · 2 state decisions

301939194019501960decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

FORD, District Judge.

¶1This is an action for personal injuries based upon the alleged negligence of the' defendant, his agents or servants, in the operation of a motor vehicle on the highway. The defendant objects to the following interrogatories filed by the plaintiff:

“5. Were you operating the said motor vehicle as the agent or servant of the owner thereof, at the time of the alleged accident?”

¶2The defendant has waived objection to answering this interrogatory.

¶3“7(b). Please state the number of years you have been licensed in Massachusetts.”

¶4It is immaterial how long the defendant has been licensed to operate a motor vehicle; the real issue is what was his conduct in operating the motor vehicle at the time of the accident, whether he had been licensed for a day or years. It need not be answered.

¶5“8. Please state whether your operator’s license to operate motor vehicles in Massachusetts has ever been suspended or revoked and if so, the dates of such suspension or revocations.”

¶6This is immaterial to any issue in the case and need not be answered. It is a “fishing” question.

¶7“19. Please state what, if anything, was done by you in the operation of the said motor vehicle in an attempt to avoid the alleged accident.”

¶8This question calls for an opinion and conclusion and no answer is required.

¶9“21. Please state each and every act or omission to act on the part of the plaintiff which you claim in any way contributed to the alleged accident.”

¶10In accordance with decision on interrogatory No. 19, no answer is required to this question.

¶11The plaintiff has filed an objection to the following interrogatory filed by the defendant :

*19“26. Please state fully and in detail what act or acts the defendant did or failed to do which caused you injury.”

¶12This question calls for an expression of opinion and conclusion, and need not be answered.

/1/frd/18 · .json · Public domain