105 Mass. 391
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Decided October 15, 1870
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1870-10-15
Tobt. In the writ the defendant was summoned “ to answer unto Louis Lapham, who sues in his own right, but with the intent to benefit Frederick Slocum thereby, in an action of tort.” Judgment was rendered in the superior court for the defendant, and the clerk taxed his costs. The plaintiff appealed from the taxation, not disputing particular items, but denying liability for any and all costs. The superior court affirmed the taxation; and the plaintiff appealed to this court.
Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know
Decided 1870-10-15
Cited by 66 later decisions (3 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 2021 · most notably Rosenthal v. Walker (1884), Knickerbocker Life Ins Co v. Pendleton (1885)
6 federal appellate · 1 district · 46 state decisions — followed in 17 states
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.
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¶1The plaintiff does not deny that the general rule is that a plaintiff against whom a judgment is rendered is liable to the defendant for costs. But he contends that he is exempt, because he has inserted in the writ a statement that he “ sues in his own right but with the intent to benefit Frederick Slocum.” This allegation, even if proved to be true, does not, however, make Slocum liable, nor does it relieve the plaintiff.
¶2Taxation affirmed.