Goolsby v. Public Service Co-ordinated Transport
Goolsby v. Public Service Co-ordinated Transport
Opinion of the Court
These two cases arose out of the same accident, were tried together in the Essex County Court of Common Pleas, came before us on an appeal by the defendant from judgments rendered against it on behalf of Ida Goolsbj’ and Rose T. Rady respectively and are here argued together.
The two plaintiffs Ida Goolsby and Rose T. Rady were passengers in an automobile owned by George Hannon Rady and driven by the latter’s wife, Minnie P. Rady. As the
Appellant’s brief presents three legal propositions. The first and second are, respectively., that the trial court committed error in refusing to grant a nonsuit and further committed error in refusing to grant a direction of verdict in favor of the appellant. There is the following testimony given by Minnie P. Rady: “Q. Now, did you see the operator of the bus give any signal to stop? A. No. Q. He did not? A. No. Q. You did not see him put his arm out? A. No. Q. You say it stopped suddenly, this bus? A. Very.”
We understand the testimoiry “Q. He did not? A. No.” to be understood as reading: “Q. He did not give any signal to stop? A. No.” The witness Hampe testifies: “The Public Service bus stopped so fast that it really seemed to buckle.” We consider that this testimony, in conjunction with other evidence which we find it unnecessary to cite, was sufficient to raise the question of negligent operation of the defendant’s bus as one of fact for the jury to determine. The refusals to nonsuit and to direct a verdict for the defendant were proper.
The remaining contention of the appellant is that the trial court committed error in refusing to charge two of its requests, namely:
“1. It is the duty of one when overtaking another vehicle directly in the line of their progress and a possible obstacle in their way, that their car be reduced to such control that it may be immediately brought to a standstill if necessary or if in attempting to pass the other vehicle, directly in front they are required to keep their said car or automobile under such control so as to avoid collision and damage.”
If these requests correctly stated the law, the effect would be, in application to the instant case, to relieve the defendant company of any liability for a sudden stopping of its bus in traffic and without warning. We think that the requests are not correct statements of the appropriate legal principles and that the court did not err in refusing to charge them.
The judgment below will be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.