Martin v. Vierra
Martin v. Vierra
070rehearing
The petition for hearing is denied. However, we expressly withhold our approval of the following statement in paragraph four of the opinion of the District Court of Appeal concerning the rule of last clear chance: “In any event, the situation presented by the evidence was such as to justify the conclusion that after defendant observed plaintiff in the street m a position of peril of which she was obviously unaware, he had the last clear chance to avoid colliding with her by diverting the course of his automobile to the left, which he readily could have done if he had been driving prudently and with due care, instead of swerving to the right.”
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff, Dolores Martin, about seventy years of age, while attempting to cross a public street in the business section of Santa Clara during the noon hour on a clear day, was knocked down and severely injured by a delivery automobile owned and driven by the defendant Joe Vierra; and she brought this action against him for damages. At the trial the cause was submitted to the determination of a jury on three issues of fact, namely, negligence of defendant, negligence of plaintiff, and the last clear chance; and a verdict was rendered in favor of plaintiff for the sum of $2,500. From the judgment entered thereon the defendant appeals. Summarized, the grounds urged for reversal are
The law governing the right of a trial court to grant a motion for directed verdict is well settled. As said in the Estate of Lances, 216 Cal. 397 [14 Pac. (2d) 768], wherein numerous earlier cases are cited, such a motion may be granted only when, disregarding conflicting evidence and giving to plaintiff’s evidence all the value to which it is legally entitled, herein indulging in every legitimate inference which may be drawn from that evidence, the result is a determination that there is no evidence of sufficient substantiality to support a verdict in favor of the plaintiff if such a verdict were given; that therefore unless it can be said as a matter of law that, when so considered, no other reasonable conclusion is legally deducible from the evidence, and that any other holding would be so lacking in evidentiary support that a reviewing court would be impelled to reverse it upon appeal, or the trial court to set it aside as a matter of law, the trial court is not justified in taking the ease from the jury. Continuing, the court points out that such a motion is in the nature of a demurrer to the evidence, is governed by practically the same rules, and concedes as true the evidence on behalf of the adverse party, with all fair and reasonable inferences to be deduced therefrom; that in the determination of such a motion the trial court is controlled by rules entirely different from those governing in the matter of granting a new trial; that on motion for a new trial, the trial court may weigh the evidence and judge of the credibility of the witnesses, whereas on a motion for a directed verdict, it may not do so, its power in passing upon such motion being strictly limited; that therefore, while the state of the evidence may be such as would warrant the trial court in granting a new trial, it would not be justified in directing a verdict on the same evidence. In other words, says the court, the function of the trial court on motion for directed verdict is analogous to and practically the same as that of a reviewing court in determining on appeal whether there is any evidence in the record of sufficient substance to support a verdict.
Defendant’s contention that plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law is based upon the fact that the city maintained an ordinance requiring pedestrians while crossing the streets in the business section to keep within lanes marked by white lines, and certain testimony introduced in behalf of defendant to the effect that plaintiff was attempting to cross the intersection outside of the pedestrian lanes. On the other hand, there are ample circumstances disclosed by the evidence which reasonably support the claim made in behalf of plaintiff that she was actually within the pedestrian lane when she was struck. In any event, the situation presented by the evidence was such as to justify the conclusion that after defendant observed plaintiff in the street in a position of peril of which she was obviously unaware, he had the last clear chance to avoid colliding with her by diverting the course of his automobile to the left, which he readily could have done if he had been driving prudently and with due care, instead of swerving to the right. He claimed that if he had adopted the former course
With respect to the instructions, complaint is made first of a group given at plaintiff's request pertaining to the doctrine of the last clear chance, the chief criticism made being that certain elements of the doctrine were omitted therefrom. The rule is, however, that all instructions given must on appeal be taken and considered as a whole; and here the record shows that in addition to those challenged the court gave others proposed by the defendant wherein all of the elements of said doctrine were clearly and correctly stated. Therefore, when the latter are read in connection with those criticized, it becomes apparent that the law bearing upon the subject of the last clear chance was fully and fairly presented to the jury.
The next objection goes to instruction No. 7 proposed by plaintiff, to the effect that plaintiff had the right to cross the street at any point and was chargeable in so doing only with the exercise of due care. On account of the existing city ordinance requiring pedestrians while crossing the streets in the business district to keep within lanes marked for such purposes, it is evident that said instruction was inapplicable to the facts of this case and therefore should not have been given. It appears, however, that later in its charge the court gave another instruction proposed by the defendant wherein the law upon the subject was clearly ■ and correctly stated. This latter instruction is numbered 49, and is as follows: “In addition to the general rule of ordinary care which applies to the conduct of all parties using the streets, a traffic ordinance of the city of Santa Clara, in full force and effect at the time this accident occurred, provided as follows: Section 10. Pedestrian’s Limited Right to Use of Roadway. When within the business district, no pedestrian shall cross a roadway other than by a crosswalk. ... It shall be unlawful for any person to be in any roadway other than a safety zone or crosswalk, provided that this provision shall not be construed to prevent the necessary use of a roadway by a
Also without merit are the objections made to instructions No. 9, No. 15 and No. 16 regarding the amount of care required of an automobilist and a pedestrian respectively. (Weihe v. Rathjen Mercantile Co., 34 Cal. App. 302 [167 Pac. 287].) Indeed, quite contrary to the contentions made by defendant in this behalf, it is held to be error to refuse instructions in the form here challenged (Dawson v. Lalanne, 22 Cal. App. (2d) 314 [70 Pac. (2d) 1002]; Broun v. Blair, 26 Cal. App. (2d) 613 [80 Pac. (2d) 95]; Vedder v. Bireley, 92 Cal. App. 52 [267 Pac. 724]; Pinello v. Taylor, 128 Cal. 508 [17 Pac. (2d) 1039]); and in Dawson v. Lalanne, supra, the refusal was held to be reversible error. Nor may the verdict be set aside because of the incidental reference in one of said instructions to an automobile as a dangerous instrumentality capable of inflicting severe injuries. (Del Carlo v. Oberti, 2 Cal. App. (2d) 304 [37 Pac. (2d) 1050].) In Warnke v. Griffith Co., 133 Cal. App. 481 [24 Pac. (2d) 583], relied on by defendant, the trial court refused to give an instruction embodying among other matters the principle of law here questioned, and such refusal was upheld on appeal; not, however, upon the ground, as defendant argues, that such was not the law, but because the requested instruction was “very long” and involved, and the other legal matters incorporated therein would have had the effect of confusing the jury. In fact the soundness of the principle of law here objected to was there expressly recognized, the court in this behalf saying: “ ... and while it is undoubtedly true that the amount of care required of the driver of the truck was greater than that required of appellant, as set forth in the part of the instruction refused by the court, and while such instruction sets forth a correct principle of law, we are of the opinion that the charges given by the court are equally sound as principles of law.”
Defendant’s final point is directed against instruction No. 20, bearing upon the issue of contributory negligence and having particular reference to the standard to be used in measuring the degree of care to be exercised by persons “mentally deficient by reason of old age”. As authority for the instruction plaintiff cites the statement of law set forth in section 40, 19 California Jurispruden.ee at page 603, which is
The judgment is affirmed.
Peters, P. J., and Ward, J., concurred.
A petition by appellant to have the cause heard in the Supreme Court, after judgment in the District Court of Appeal, was denied by the Supreme Court on October 9, 1939, and the following opinion then rendered thereon:
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DOLORES MARTIN, Respondent, v. JOE VIERRA, Appellant
- Cited By
- 11 cases
- Status
- Published