Zito v. Ingersoll
Zito v. Ingersoll
Opinion of the Court
The case arises out of a collision of two automobiles, one owned and driven by defendant Murphy, and the other owned and driven by defendant Ingersoll. The two cars met head on and late at night,'each driver accusing the other of having been on the wrong side of the road. Mrs. Zito, the female plaintiff, was a passenger in the Murphy car and was quite seriously injured and her husband claimed damages by reason thereof.
The first reason argued is that the verdicts were excessive. The verdict in favor of Mrs. Zito, which was against Murphy alone, Ingersoll being ignored by the jury, was for $5,000,
The next point is that the verdict was against the weight of evidence. The argument under this head consists substantially of the claim that Murphy was very drunk, so drunk, in fact, that Mrs. Zito was necessarily aware of it, and that she was guilty of negligence by riding in his car. As Murphy had taken the Zito party from Hammonton to Ocean City in the evening and it was late at night and all parties necessarily had to go home, it is difficult to see what Mrs. Zito could have done under the circumstances except go back in the car in which she came. However, it will be sufficient to say on this point that the question of Murphy’s intoxication was vigorously disputed. The suit being against both Murphy and Ingersoll, each of the defendants claiming that it was the fault of the other, we naturally find in the testimony for Ingersoll that the witnesses say Murphy was intoxicated; on the other hand, Murphy, throughout the case, vigorously protested that he was not intoxicated in any degree whatsoever, and there is corroboration of this by his wife and a Mrs. Barefoot, who was sworn as a witness, and both of whom were in the Murphy car. The jury certainly did not act unreasonably in concluding that the suggestion of Murphy’s intoxication as a basis for contributory negligence of Mrs. Zito was not satisfactorily made out.
The third and fourth grounds are based on the refusal of the court to charge two requests founded on the hypothesis
We conclude that the rule to show cause should be discharged.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CATHARINE ZITO AND ANTHONY ZITO, AS THE HUSBAND OF CATHARINE ZITO v. JOHN W. INGERSOLL AND HARRY L. MURPHY, JOINTLY AND SEVERALLY
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published