Wolf v. C. Schmidt & Sons Brewing Co.
Wolf v. C. Schmidt & Sons Brewing Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
A boy fifteen years of age was riding south on a bicycle, on a street on which the defendant’s electric truck was running north. At about the same time the
The assignments to be considered relate to the instructions in relation to negligence and to the measure of damages. The instruction complained of on the question of negligence was this: “If you come to the conclusion that the accident was on the whole due to the negligence of the defendant’s driver, without the concurrent negligence of the plaintiff, that is one thing. If you come to the conclusion that it was due to the plaintiff’s carelessness, want of that forethought which he ought to have exercised, by getting himself into a position where the accident was practically unavoidable by anybody, then your only course is to find a verdict for defendant. If, however, you come to the conclusion that the plaintiff was not guilty of carelessness but the defendant was, and that the carelessness of the defendant, without admixture of carelessness of the plaintiff, produced this accident, then your verdict ought to be for the plaintiff.” At the close of the charge an exception was taken “to so much of the charge of the court as instructed the jury that the issue is whether the plaintiff or the defendant was negligent.” It is conceded that the instruction given was correct, but it is argued that there was error in not charging that there could be no recovery by the plaintiff if neither party was in fault and the injury was due to accident without negligence. It is a sufficient answer to say that the court was not asked to so charge. The exception did not call attention to an omission to charge, but suggested error in the instruction given. It was said
We find no error calling for a reversal and the judgment is affirmed.
Reference
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- Negligence — Bicycle — Collision with moior truclc — Charge of court — Failure to charge on a particular point. 1. In an action by a bicyclist to recover damages for personal injuries sustained in a collision with defendant’s motor-truck, where the evidence is conflicting as to the negligence of the defendant and the contributory negligence of the plaintiff, and the court correctly instructs the jury as to the rights of the parties if they find one or the other'or both guilty of negligence, the court cannot be charged with error in failing to say that there could be no recovery if neither party was in fault, if it appears that no request was made to so charge, and the court did say that if the plaintiff got “into a position where the accident was practically unavoidable by anybody,” he could not recover. Negligence — Damages — Loss of future earnings. 2. Where in an accident case future earnings are anticipated and capitalized, the plaintiff is entitled to their present value only. The standard is the present worth of the probable future earnings of which a plaintiff will be deprived, based on factors which apply to the individual case, such as his age, condition, station in life, occupation, health and surroundings. 3. In a negligence case where the plaintiff claims damages for the loss of a leg, and his counsel in argument suggested that plaintiff’s expectancy of life was fifty years, aud that the measure of damages should be ascertained by multiplying his annual loss of wages by fifty, the court commits no error in calling attention to the fact that a loss computed on the basis claimed would amount to more than twice the cost of an annuity that would equal the annual loss of wages. Such an instruction was not the setting up of the cost of an annuity as a standard, but a proper warning against adopting a mistaken method of calculation urged by counsel.