Broadnax v. Deloatch
Broadnax v. Deloatch
Opinion of the Court
This case should have been submitted to the jury. From plaintiff’s evidence the jury could legitimately have found that defendant, while driving on a clear night upon a 21-foot wide dry paved highway which was free from defects, and without any interference from other traffic, drove his car off of the pavement into the rear of the car occupied by plaintiff’s intestate while that car was parked on the dirt shoulder of the road entirely off of the pavement and with its lights burning. “When a motor vehicle leaves the highway for no apparent cause, it is not for the court to imagine possible explanations. Prima facie, it may accept the normal and probable one of driver-negligence and leave it to the jury to determine the true cause after considering all the evidence — that of defendant as well as plaintiff.” Greene v. Nichols, 274 N.C. 18, 161 S.E. 2d 521. Plaintiff’s evidence was sufficient, therefore, to support a finding that defendant was negligent in at least one of the respects alleged in the complaint and that such negligence was a proximate cause of the injuries and death of the deceased. That was all plaintiff was required to show in order to withstand the motion for nonsuit. Funeral Home v. Pride, 261 N.C. 723, 136 S.E. 2d 120.
Appellee contends nonsuit was warranted because of a material variance between plaintiff’s allegations and proof. In his brief ap-pellee states that plaintiff's witness Williams testified he "had seen
The judgment of nonsuit is
Reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- IRVIN A. BROADNAX, Administrator of the Estate of FLOYD BOONE v. ROBERT LEE DELOATCH
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published