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183 Mass. 296

Ahern v. Hildreth

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · decided 1903-05-21

Tort by a chambermaid employed by the defendant at the Hotel Velvet at Old Orchard Beach in the State of Maine, for injuries from falling through the glass bottom óf a light shaft, set in the floor of a hallway, across which the plaintiff attempted to walk when ordered by the defendant’s housekeeper to bring an artificial potted plant which was on the other side of it. Writ dated November 16, 1899.

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently November 1931

6 state decisions

Relies on Moody v. Hamilton Manufacturing Co.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1903-05-21

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Hammond, J.

¶1The enclosure into which the plaintiff stepped was no part of the floor of the hotel, and that fact was clearly indicated by the glass and the railing taken in connection with the other circumstances. The defendant had no reason to expect that any person would go into the enclosure, except possibly the house man, whose duty it was to keep the glass clean so that the light might shine clearly through it, and who knew enough to step only upon the girders. The failure of the defendant, therefore, to have the glass strong enough to support a person walking upon it was not negligence as against this plaintiff. Even if the plaintiff was ordered to go into the enclosure, and even if the order was a negligent order, it was given by a fellow servant and not by the defendant, and in this action at common law the defendant is not answerable for it. Moody v. Hamilton Manuf. Co. 159 Mass. 70. The action of the judge in ordering a verdict for the defendant well stands upon the proposition that *298the evidence failed to show negligence on the part of the defendant, and it becomes unnecessary to consider whether there was evidence of due care on the part of the plaintiff.

¶2Exceptions overruled.

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