Haskell v. Toepfer
Haskell v. Toepfer
Opinion of the Court
This is an action for damages for the death of a minor child who was killed as the result of being struck by an automobile driven by defendant Gladys Toepfer. The trial was had before a jury, which rendered a verdict in favor of defendants. Plaintiff’s motion for a new trial being denied, he has taken this appeal from the judgment. The contentions for reversal are that the trial court committed error, first, in the admission of evidence, and, second, in two of its instructions to the jury.
The accident occurred in the middle of the afternoon in a business district in San Francisco, where the deceased child, a boy of a little less than five years old, had apparently wandered from his home a block and a half away. The day was clear, and the sidewalks and road dry. On the block where the accident occurred are stores on both sides of the street, and the street runs approximately north and south. The child had been talking to an upholsterer, whose shop is in the block on the east side of the street, and had passed on to an adjoining place of business, a coal yard, where he was observed by a witness who had come to call upon people across the way, and, finding them not at home, sat down on the steps to write a letter and await their return. The defendant Gladys Toepfer was proceeding south in her automobile at a speed of from twenty to twenty-five miles an hour. She was looking straight ahead and driving three or four feet from cars parked closely on the west side of the street. Two other cars were following her. She testified that the first intimation she had that anything was wrong was when she heard a thumping noise; that she thought it was a flat tire, and stopped in a normal manner and got out to see what the trouble was; that she then saw the child lying in the street.
Appellant contends that it was error to admit in evidence the traffic ordinance of the city and county of San Francisco, purporting to limit the rights of pedestrians in the use of the streets and imposing upon them greater restrictions than the Vehicle Code and “ ... to instruct the jury that if the deceased child attempted to cross Tiffany Street other than at an intersection he was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law and if the jury found it to be the proximate cause of the accident the defendants were discharged from liability.” (Pipoly v. Benson, 20 Cal.2d 366 [125 P.2d 482]; Nosbonne v. Brill, 53 Cal.App.2d 436 [128 P.2d 57]; Fuentes v. Ling, 21 Cal.2d 59 [130 P.2d 121]; Wilton v. Henkin, 52 Cal.App.2d 368 [126 P.2d 425] ; Ryan v. San Diego Elec. Ry. Co., 52 Cal.App.2d 460 [126 P.2d 401].)
It was stipulated, and the court so charged the jury, that any instruction on the subject of contributory negligence should not apply to the five year old boy, but to plaintiff, the father of the boy. Notwithstanding this stipulation, the instruction was erroneous, and the error was aggravated by the following instructions indicating that under certain cir
“I instruct you that if you find that the deceased minor was attempting to cross Tiffany Street, other than at an intersection, the minor is held to be guilty of negligence as a matter of law. The defendants are discharged from liability if, in your opinion, such violation of law on the part of the child, was the proximate cause of the accident.”
As stated above, the jury from the evidence could have found either way. As applied to all the circumstances and facts surrounding this case, the giving of the instruction complained of was prejudicial error.
The judgment is reversed.
Peters, P. J., and Knight, J., concurred.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.