Antonelli v. Pugh
Antonelli v. Pugh
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
These appeals arise out of a collision between two automobiles, one driven by Stewart J. Whitney, Sr., in which his twelve year old son, Stewart J. Whitney, Jr., was a passenger. The father died before the ambulance arrived and the
Suits were filed by the administratrix of Whitney, Jr., the administrators of Whitney, Sr., and the State to the use of his widow and living children against the owner and driver of the Antonelli car. The Antonellis in turn sued Pugh and the administrators of Whitney, Sr. The cases were consolidated for trial and submitted to a jury on special issues, after motions for directed verdicts had been submitted by each party and denied. The jury found verdicts in varying amounts in favor of the Whitneys and against the Antonellis, and found for the Whitneys in the suits by the Antonellis. Motions for judgment n.o.v. were overruled, except as to the judgments against Mr. Antonelli, which were stricken on motion to revise. We shall first deal with the question of his liability, as owner of the Packard.
Although his ownership was alleged in the amended declaration, and conceded, there was no allegation or proof of agency. Miss Antonelli testified that she was using the car to visit a friend. The Whitneys relied upon the admitted fact that Mr. Antonelli had signed an application for his daughter, who was under 21 years of age, under Code (1957), Art. 66½, sec. 93. Although not proven until after the trial, it was shown in connection with the motion to revise the judgments, that a certificate of Financial Responsibility had been filed and was in effect at the time of the accident, and hence that he was not liable on the theory of imputed negligence. See State, Use of Shipley v. Walker, 230 Md. 133, 137, and Rule 625. We think the trial court did not abuse its discretion in striking the judgments.
.The motions for directed verdicts call for a close examination of the evidence. Miss Antonelli was the only eye-witness,
The testimony on the other side was almost wholly circumstantial. A neighbor who heard the crash and called ambulances testified as to the position of the cars. So did a police officer, Souder, who arrived before the cars were moved, another officer who took photographs, Mr. Antonelli, and a garage man. All agreed that the left fronts of both cars were crushed as far back as the windshields. The paved or macadamized portion of the two-lane road was 22 feet, 4 inches wide, with 8 foot dirt shoulders. There were no skid marks, but the Mercury was entirely off the paved portion of the road on the south side (the Whitneys’ lane) with its rear against the bank. The Whitney boy was lying in a ditch beside the Mercury, and a seat cushion was also on the south shoulder. The Packard was also in the eastbound lane on the south side of the road, although its right rear wheel was over the solid yellow center line of the road. Most of the debris was in the eastbound lane, although bits of chrome were scattered over the road, some on the north side. The fronts of both vehicles were in contact. There were two cut marks in the eastbound lane, leading to the left front rim of the Mercury, on which the tire was cut in two. Souder, however, testified that he was unable to locate the point of impact.
The crucial question in the case is whether there was suf
The Antonellis contend, however, that the trial court erred
Under the circumstances it seems clear that Whitney was properly driving under his New York license. Code (1957), Art. 66½, sec. 87 (d) exempts a non-resident of Maryland from the necessity of obtaining a Maryland license, if “licensed in his home state * * We think the proof shows that New York was still his home state, and that he had not become a resident of, or been employed in, the District of Columbia. Hence the restriction imposed in the District was inapplicable, even if we assume, without deciding, that the restriction would be sufficient to establish his inability to drive in Maryland without glasses, that his eye sight was impaired, or that the failure to use his glasses was a contributing cause of the accident. In any event, all of the evidence was before the jury for consideration. We find no error in refusing the instructions.
Judgments affirmed, costs to be equally divided.
Dissenting Opinion
filed the following dissenting opinion.
To me the effect of the majority opinion is to hold — contrary to the prior decisions of this Court — that the position of the automobiles and the location of the debris, despite the inability of the only expert witness to locate the point of impact, were sufficient to support a reasonable inference that the impact occurred on the south or Whitney side and not the north or Antonelli side of the road.
In these consolidated cases, where the primary questions on appeal concern the refusal to direct a verdict for the defendants Antonelli in the case of the Whitneys against them and the refusal to direct a verdict for the plaintiffs Antonelli in their case against the Whitneys,
Other than the testimony of the Antonelli-daughter to the effect that she was driving on her right side of the road and the testimony of the investigating police officer to the effect that it was impossible to determine the point of impact from the physical facts, the only other evidence was the physical facts (and the photographs introduced as exhibits thereof) showing that the Whitney automobile was on the south side of the highway with its rear in the ditch paralleling the shoulder of the eastbound or Whitney lane and was pointed toward the northeast with its left front wheel on the southerly shoulder; that the Antonelli automobile was directly across the Whitney lane facing south with its right rear wheel in the westbound or Antonelli lane; that the left front of each vehicle received the most extensive damage and was so badly
The majority bases its holding that the evidence produced was sufficient to support the finding of the jury — that the Antonelli-daughter was guilty of negligence and that Whitney was not — on the following conclusions: that the jury was not bound to believe the testimony of the Antonelli-daughter that she was on her right side of the road and that disbelief of her story amounted to belief that she was on the wrong side of the road; that had the occupants of the Whitney automobile been alive failure to produce them might have permitted an inference that their testimony would be unfavorable; that the failure of the Antonelli-daughter to explain why she had not seen the Whitney automobile until the moment of the impact was some evidence that she had not kept a proper lookout; that this was not a case in which the accident could be found to be inevitable or unavoidable; and that one or both of the drivers must have been over the center-line and hence at fault.
The principle of the prior decisions of this Court is that to justify the submission of a question of negligence to a jury,
When these principles are related to the evidence produced at the trial of these consolidated cases and such inferences of fact as are fairly deducible therefrom, it seems apparent to me that the Antonellis were entitled to a directed verdict in their favor in the case of the Whitneys against them.
In a case where there is nothing but physical facts to support the existence of negligence, it is imperative that the trial court exercise the greatest of care to prohibit the jury from speculating on the possible causes of an accident of which there is no tangible proof. Gloyd v. Wills, 180 Md. 161, 23 A. 2d 665 (1942). This becomes even more imperative in a case such as this where, on one hand, the position of the automobiles and the location of the debris without any substantiating evidence was insufficient to permit a judicial determination as to where the collision occurred, and, on the other hand, the absence of brake or skid marks and the inability of the expert witness to fix the point of impact was clearly indicative of the fact that it was impossible to determine where the collision had occurred. The absence of brake or skid marks, even without the expert testimony, was enough to prohibit the case from going to the jury. In State for use of Balderston v. Hop
The cases cited by the majority for the proposition that the position of the automobiles and the location of the debris was sufficient to support a reasonable inference as to where the impact occurred convince me that the case of the Whitneys against the Antonellis should not have been submitted to the jury.
Although the test laid down in Acme Poultry Corp. v. Melville, 188 Md. 365, 53 A. 2d 1 (1947), cited by the majority, is to the effect that evidence is sufficient to take a case to the jury if the physicial facts rationally permit an inference from the “preponderance of probability,” it is significant to note that it was the testimony of an expert witness, pointing to one of the alternatives the jury had to decide, which induced this Court to reverse the judgment entered on a directed verdict for the appellee.
The facts in Melville v. State use of Morris, 155 F. 2d 440 (C.C.A. 4th 1946)
The case of Shafer v. State use of Sundergill, supra, (171 Md. 506), as the majority point out, was distinguished on the facts in Wolfe v. State use of Brown, 173 Md. 103, 194 Atl. 832 (1937), and properly so. But the distinction this Court drew between these two cases does not mean, as the majority seem to intimate, that the Wolfe case was authority for allowing the case of the Whitneys against the Antonellis to go to the jury. In Shafer, where broken glass was scattered near the wrecked automobile, but there was no evidence as to the quantity or character of the glass, or whether it was from the automobile or the truck, or whether it was from the windshield or the headlights, it was held that the mere presence of glass near the automobile afforded no proof that the collision occurred near that point. In Wolfe, where there was an admission by Wolfe that he had pulled to the left “directly in the path of Brown’s car,” in addition to broken glass in a “pretty heavy pile” along with pieces of metal from Brown’s automobile on his side of the road, and only small particles of glass on Wolfe’s side of the road, it was held that the evidence was sufficient to take the case to the jury. Obviously the holdings in both Wolfe and Shafer were proper under the distinctive facts in each case, but to me it seems apparent that the case of the Whitneys against the Antonellis is more in line with Shafer than with Wolfe. Moreover, as was hereinbefore stated (on p. 203 of this opinion), Wolfe was distinguished on its facts in State for use of Balderston v. Hopkins, supra (173 Md. 321), because, in the absence of tire marks to indicate the point of impact, the position of the trucks after
But because the jury chose to disbelieve the testimony of the Antonelli-daughter that she was driving on her right side of the road, and there was no other evidence that Whitney was guilty of negligence (for much the same reasons that there was no evidence of negligence on the part of the Antonelli-daughter in the case of the Whitneys against the Antonellis), it would seem to be futile to reverse the judgment in the case of the Antonellis against the Whitneys and remand the case for a new trial: it is therefore my belief that the judgment in this case should be affirmed.
. The designation “Whitneys” is used here for the sake of brevity: actually the defendants in the case of the Antonellis against the Whitneys were the administrators of Stewart J. Whitney, Sr., who was killed in the accident, and Robert J. Pugh, the owner of the automobile that Whitney was driving.
. It would seem that if there was any evidence — as there may well have been — that both drivers were over the center line, then neither was entitled to recover from the other.
. This Morris case (155 F. 2d 440) apparently arose out of the same accident as that involved in the Acme case (188 Md. 365).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- ANTONELLI Et Al. v. PUGH, Etc., Et Al.
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published