Private right of action, employer liability.

(Editor's Note: The decision in this case was announced in 1919.) The Holyoke Machine Company appeals a lower court's ruling in a civil suit.. The plaintiff filed suit against the company, after he was struck by an iron washer that had been tossed from a company window by one of its employees. The employee admitted to throwing the washer, but said he was attempting to attract the attention of another pedestrian. He did not intend to strike the plaintiff. The employee's supervisor testified that the washers were not used in the company's products and were generally disposed of as scrap. There was no evidence to indicate a similar incident had ever occurred.

The trial ruled in favor of the defendant. The company now appeals.

Holyoke Machine Company wins. The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts reversed the ruling of the lower jurisdiction. Guided by a principal of tort law which holds an employer liable for an injury done to a third party only while the employee is in the commission of his duties, the court found no evidence of negligence on the company's part. In this case, the employee tossed the metal washer out the window for a reason unrelated to performing his job-related tasks.