HAYES v. BOSTON MAINE R. R., 78 N.H. 581 (1916)


97 A. 221

WILLIAM S. HAYES, Adm’r, v. BOSTON MAINE RAILROAD.

Supreme Court of New Hampshire Strafford.
Decided January 4, 1916.

CASE, for negligently causing the death of the plaintiff’s intestate, Charles A. Ayer, who was killed on February 12, 1913, by collision with a passenger train, while driving in an open carriage over a grade-crossing at Barrington station. Trial by jury resulting in a disagreement. Transferred from the February term, 1914, of the superior court by Pike, C. J., on the defendants’ exceptions to the denial of their motions for a nonsuit and the direction of a verdict in their favor.

Mathews Stevens (Mr. Stevens orally), for the plaintiff.

Leslie P. Snow and George T. Hughes (Mr. Snow orally), for the defendants.

PLUMMER, J.

There is no evidence from which it can be found that the plaintiff’s intestate, as he approached the railroad crossing, did anything or exercised any care to protect himself and avoid the accident. The case is not distinguishable from Gahagan v. Railroad, 70 N.H. 441; Waldron v. Railroad, 71 N.H. 362, and Bonnin v. Railroad, 77 N.H. 559. The deceased was riding in a carriage when the collision occurred; but that fact, in the absence of all evidence of care on his part, does not differentiate the case.

Exceptions sustained: verdict and judgment for the defendants.

All concurred.