Woodward v. O'Driscoll
Woodward v. O'Driscoll
Opinion of the Court
The action is trespass on the case for negligence.
The case was tried by a jury by whom a verdict was found for the plaintiff and is now in this court on defendant’s bill of exceptions. The only question is, was the action of the trial justice in refusing, at defendant’s request, to direct a verdict for the defendant, error?
Shortly after the noon hour, on the 12th of April, 1918, plaintiff, who lived in Barrington and was on his way to his home, drove in his Ford touring car down Wickenden street in the city of Providence and turned to the right at Gano street, which latter street runs north and south and parallel with the river. Plaintiff then proceeded to the south along Gano street intending to turn to the left on Tockwotton street, the next street intersecting Gano street, and intending to proceed to his left and to the eastward by Tockwotton street to and over the Washington Bridge. A short distance south of the corner of Wickenden and Gano streets *489 there is a sharp bend in the street. Plaintiff testifies that as he rounded this corner or bend he looked carefully ahead and that there was no one on the street; after he had proceeded a few feet he noticed that the traffic was congested on Tockwotton street in the vicinity of the bridge; he looked over to his left to ascertain the cause and saw that the drawbridge was open; he was driving on the right-hand side of the highway about two feet from the right-hand curb, driving slowly, between twelve and fourteen miles an hour. As he looked to the left, he saw the left-hand side of Gano street but not the right; about the time he looked to the left, or a few seconds thereafter, a large automobile truck of defendant came into collision with plaintiff’s automobile and caused the damage to recover from which this suit was brought. About two hundred feet south of the curve on Gano street, in the direction of Tockwotton street and the bridge, on the west side of the street and on plaintiff’s right-hand side, there was a private entrance from the street across the sidewalk into a shed of defendant in which lumber was stored. The street wall of the shed is built close to the inner side of the sidewalk. The plaintiff knew that this entrance way was used by defendant’s trucks in moving lumber in or out of the shed and he testified that until he was approximately one hundred feet from the shed entrance he was looking along the road and sidewalk and toward the shed door; at that timé there was no one on the sidewalk and the truck was not visible; he then turned his eyes to the left and within a few seconds the truck was backed out of the shed and struck the right front of plaintiff’s car.
Defendant’s employee, Charles Schwab, the driver of the lumber truck, testified that as he started to back his automobile truck out of the shed, one John Collins, another of defendant’s employees, went onto the street in order to direct him out in safety; the driver could not see in either direction on the street; he started to back his car out and was moving slowly, perhaps a mile an hour, when Collins signalled him to stop; he could have stopped his car imme *490 diately but allowed the car to run some four feet farther out and' into the street; he then stopped the car and almost immediately the truck was struck, as he claims, by the plaintiff’s car. At the time of the collision the rear wheels of the truck were in the gutter and the rear end of the truck body was about four feet from the line of the curb in the street. The driver of the truck gave no signal before going out of the shed nor did he see plaintiff’s car until after the collision. Collins did not see the plaintiff’s car until after the collision. Collins was looking to the south as he was directing the movements of the truck driver and his signal for him to stop was given not because of the approach of plaintiff but because Collins saw a car approaching from the direction of the bridge. It thus appears that no one saw the collision.
*491
In the case at bar as there was some substantial evidence in support of plaintiff’s allegations that he was using due care this question of fact was properly left to the decision of the jury and the motion to direct a verdict was properly denied.
The exception of the defendant is overruled and the case is remitted to the Superior Court with direction to enter judgment on the verdict.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Harold B. Woodward v. Catherine E. O'driscoll.
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published