Nottis v. Pozoor
Nottis v. Pozoor
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff in this action was, at the time of the accident, April 14, 1954, a passenger in a 1950 Chevrolet Tudor Sedan, which was being driven by a friend of hers in a westerly direction on route 5, a public highway of the State of New York. That portion of route 5 between Dunkirk, New York, and Erie, Pennsylvania, was in an area of rolling country with dips and crests. The road was a two lane highway for one lane of cars going easterly and one going westerly. At the point of the impact, the road surface was divided by a double painted white line indicating no passing. At a point about six miles east of Barcelona, New York in the Town of Portland, Chatauqua County, while the said Chevrolet was travelling in a westerly direction at a rate of about fifty miles per hour behind a Chrysler, operated by the
The plaintiff suffered severe, painful and permanent injuries. She was hurled through the windshield of the Chevrolet (plaintiff’s exhibits 5 and 9) causing visible injuries, as shown by plaintiff’s exhibits 1 and 2. These injuries were described as being depressed compound fracture of skull and temporal bone with lacerated muscle in this region; cerebral concussion and hemorrhages with post-concussion syndrome; multiple lacerations of the face, including laceration which extended from just in front of the anterior portion of the left ear, forward, to the outer margin of the upper brow, then downward, completely through the upper left lid, across the nose to the upper brow of the right side down through both the upper and lower lids of the right eye ending in the cheek on the right side; multiple lacerations and fracture of the nose, the outer and inner portion of both lips and the center portion of the forehead, which lacerations have resulted in permanent and disfiguring scars; puncture and other injuries of the left eyeball, resulting in removal of the left eye; abrasions and lacerations of the right cornea, a piece of glass now remaining in the cornea; contused laceration of the left knee; other injuries to both knees; fractures and loss of 9 teeth; injuries to her right elbow and her back; extreme shock and nervous and emotional disturbances.
Plaintiff received emergency surgery at the Westfield Memorial Hospital on the day of the accident, and on the same day underwent surgery at the Hamot Hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, for decompression of fracture of skull, suturing of facial lacerations and plastic repairs. She remained at the Hamot Hospital un
The plaintiif was 22 years of age at the time of the accident, a waitress with an earning record of $40 per week. In addition to the injuries above indicated, there was conscious pain and suffering. Her special damages amounted to Four thousand one hundred thirty-two and 05/100 ($4132.05) dollars. She was seriously, painfully and permanently injured, nor was she guilty of any contributory negligence. The negligence of the defendant Pozoor is apparent. He didn’t see anything (page 6; page 12 of the deposition of May 9, 1955; defendant’s exhibit S).
The motion of the defendant United States of America to strike that portion of the testimony of the witness Dr. William A. Shaefer, as to the second impact, is granted. The physician was not qualified in that field, admitted he was not an expert and, even if he were so regarded, his testimony as to the second impact being the sole cause of evisceration of the left eye, is neither credible nor has any probative force. The record, pages 60, 71, 82, and 218 indicate to the satisfaction of the court that Sergeant Payne had no potential vision of the cars above, or westerly of the Chevrolet. Even the witness Huth did not see the impact (page 82) and found it difficult to observe distance between cars (page 94). Huth was in a car following the Army truck and proceeding in a westerly direction and he couldn’t see the impact ahead of him and couldn’t answer as to brake lights on the Chevrolet (page 103). The witness Payne testified without contradiction (page 223) that he did not observe any brake signal or lights on the Chevrolet before he noted that it had stopped and, at page 236, he neither saw nor heard anything unusual before the accident. The witness Plumb, driving the Chrysler which was between the Chevrolet and the Buick, couldn’t see the Army truck (page 243 through page 248) belonging to the witness Kenneth H.
The foregoing allusion to the facts is very brief. Having heard the testimony and carefully examined the briefs of the plaintiffthe defendant United States of America and the defendant Pozoor, as well as the entire record, I am convinced that the plaintiff failed to offer any creditable proof upon which the negligence of the defendant United States of America could be predicated. As the New York Court of Appeals said in Meyer v. Whisnant, 307 N.Y. 369, 121 N.E.2d 372, Sergeant Payne was the “helpless victim of what was, * * an emergency with the creation of which (Payne) had nothing to do.” As Mr. Justice Van Voorhis said in McDonald v. Central School Dist. No. 3 etc., 179 Misc. 333, 39 N.Y.S.2d 103, at page 106, “There can be no doubt that in driving on busy thoroughfares operators of motor vehicles must take for granted the compliance with some standard of safe driving on the part of others; for example, if drivers did not assume that other drivers in meeting would pass to the right, traffic would come to a stand still.”
The negligence of the defendant Pozoor was gross and wanton because it was not mere negligence, but also recklessly disregardful of right or consequences. Marra v. New York Cent. & H. R. Co., 2d Dept., 139 App.Div. 707, 710, 124 N.Y.S. 443. Without his action, the injury would not have occurred. He created an unusual occurrence and not such as should have been foreseen by the defendant United States of America, through its agent Sergeant Payne. Leeds v. New York Telephone Co., 178 N.Y. 118, 70 N.E. 219.
1. The motion of the defendant United States of America, for judgment dismissing the complaint, is granted.
2. The counterclaim of the defendant United States of America against the defendant Joseph Pozoor, Jr., is dismissed.
3. The plaintiff Barbara J. Nottis is entitled to judgment against the defendant Joseph Pozoor, Jr., for his wanton and willful negligence, in the sum of Thirty-five thousand ($35,000.00) Dollars.
4. The motion of the defendant Joseph Pozoor, Jr., to dismiss the complaint as to him, is denied.
Prepare findings and judgment.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Barbara J. NOTTIS v. Joseph POZOOR, Jr., and United States of America
- Status
- Published