# Commonwealth v. Labbe

> Massachusetts Appeals Court · February 28, 1978 · 6 Mass. App. Ct. 73

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9519316

## Case

- **Full name:** Commonwealth vs. Russell G. Labbe
- **Court:** Massachusetts Appeals Court
- **Decided:** February 28, 1978
- **Citations:** 6 Mass. App. Ct. 73; 373 N.E.2d 227; 1978 Mass. App. LEXIS 558
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Brown
- **Judges:** Hale, Armstrong, Brown
- **Cited by:** 34 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9519316

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- observing that, when it is clear that if the defendant’s spouse is called to testify, the spouse will invoke the adverse testimony privilege, either the witness should not be called or the questions that will result in the privilege’s being invoked should not be asked in front…

## Opinion text

Brown, J.
(concurring). I fully concur in the opinion of the court affirming the verdict of manslaughter. I note, however, that, most regrettably, none of the doctors or other persons involved in treating Jason on his several visits to the hospital emergency rooms between January and September, 1974, reported the possibility of abuse to the Department of Public Welfare as required by G. L. *82 c. 119, § 51A. 1 Such a report could possibly have saved Jason’s life.
A cause of action may lie in tort on behalf of a battered child against persons named in the statute for failure to report a probable case of child abuse, where subsequently there is further injury to the child. See Commonwealth v. Cadwell, 374 Mass. 308 , 319 n.8 (1978). In addition, an attending physician may be subject to personal liability for the consequences of any negligent failure to recognize the battered child syndrome. See Landeros v. Flood, 17 Cal. 3d 399, 408-412 (1976).
The attending physician on September 26,1974, did ask the visiting nurses association to visit the home and look into the cause of Jason’s frequent injuries.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9519316. Public record. Not legal advice.