Heyer v. Eigenrauch
Heyer v. Eigenrauch
Opinion of the Court
This case arises out of a collision between two automobiles on the road running eastward from Keyport to Red Bank at Middletown. The plaintiff, who was driving his own car, sued for personal injuries and damage to the car, and the defendant counter-claimed for a corresponding cause of action. The jury found against the defendant on both issues and this rule is to review that finding.
The plaintiff, with two brothers-in-law, was returning from the funeral of his grandfather in South Jersey and, before reaching the place of collision, had been traveling northward on a road known as the Nut Swamp road which enters the main highway to Long Branch from the south at Middletown but does not cross it. The plaintiff’s home was at Belford and to reach it his route lay from the junction of the Nut Swamp road with the main highway eastward some three or four hundred yards to a point where the road to New Monmouth branches off nearly at right angles to the north. The
The defendant’s claim is a most unusual one. It is in substance that as he undertook to cross the end of New Mon
On this flat contradiction of testimony as relates to the circumstances of the accident we are asked to decide that the verdict is so clearly against the weight of the evidence that, under the rules applicable in such cases, it ought to be set aside. We confess that we are quite unable to see the force of this argument. The plaintiff was well acquainted with the locality and, while the jury in all likelihood were entitled to take his story of the meticulous care he said he had exercised in making the turn in crossing the road with a certain amount of allowance, nevertheless the claim of the defendant that the plaintiff started to turn across the road at a point some forty or more feet west of the intersection of the New Monmouth road and in such a way as to run into the left side of the defendant’s car at another point also considerably west of that road, contains elements of inherent improbability which in our estimation justified the jury in finding as they did. It may be conceded that after the accident both cars were west of New Monmouth road but that is readily accounted for on the theory that the momentum of the defendant’s car dragged them both a number of feet before they came to a rest. We are by no means persuaded that this verdict was against the weight of the evidence and as the three reasons filed all relate to that point the rule to show cause will be discharged.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.