Quigley v. Wilson Line of Massachusetts, Inc.
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1958-11-20 · cited 37×
This case involved a passenger on the defendant's ship who was injured by an unprovoked assault from an intoxicated fellow passenger after police officers hired by the defendant left the assailants unsupervised on deck. The trial judge found for the plaintiff, and the defendant appealed, challenging the sufficiency of evidence on negligence and the agency relationship with the officers. The court affirmed the judgment, holding that common carriers owe passengers the highest degree of care consistent with their business to anticipate and prevent foreseeable violence from other passengers. It reasoned that the assailants' drunken and belligerent behavior made the harm foreseeable and preventable, and the carrier remained liable for the officers' negligent failure to maintain adequate surveillance even if the officers were independent contractors or public police. The court overruled the defendant's exceptions to the denial of its requested rulings.