Opinion
September 14, 1995.
Present: Gelinas, Merrigan Teahan, JJ.
Tort, Personal injury; Fall on sidewalk; Notice of claim. Negligence, In maintaining city sidewalk. Practice, Civil, Summary judgment.
Report of court's dismissal of plaintiff's appeal. Summary judgment awarded in the Worcester Division by Brennan, J.
Michael N. Abodeely, Jr. for the plaintiff.
Anne F. Scannell for the defendant.
This matter comes before us on expedited appeal under Rule 8A of the Dist/Mun. Cts. R.A.D.A. It arises out of allowance of summary judgment for the defendant. There were no disputed facts before the judge entering summary judgment.
The plaintiff fell on a sidewalk in Worcester due to a protruding water shutoff extending one inch above the surface. Worcester police responded as did water department employees. Notice was sent to the Worcester Law Department. The facts being undisputed, the motion judge entered judgment for the defendant. We affirm.
Notwithstanding the more general language in Ch. 84, section 18 containing notice requirements which are susceptible of interpretation favoring the plaintiff's notice herein, section 19 establishes more specific requirements requiring notice "in the case of a city, to the mayor, the city clerk or treasurer . . ." The defendant is the City of Worcester.
Ch. 84, section 18 provides, inter alia, that an injured party give notice within 30 days "to the county, city, town or person by law obliged to keep said way in repair . . ."
It has long been the law in the Commonwealth that notice of injury under Ch. 84, sections 18 and 19 arising out of a fall on a city sidewalk be given to the mayor, city clerk or treasurer of a city and to no one else. King v. Boston, 300 Mass. 377, 380 (1938). Merry v. Springfield, 284 Mass. 260, (1933). The plaintiff, on these undisputed facts, does not have the option to give notice to the city law department or any other municipal official. Burdette v. Boston, 59 Mass. App. Dec. 120, 123 (1976).
Ch. 84, section 19 provides that "notice shall be in writing, . . . and may be given, . . . in the case of a city, to the mayor, the city clerk or treasurer . . ."
The plaintiff's appeal is ordered dismissed.