Coombs v. Perry
Coombs v. Perry
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent, after examining the facts recounted in the main opinion,
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff Iona Coombs was struck down by the defendant’s car as she walked westward in a pedestrian walk on Washington Boulevard in Ogden. Defendant appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict, contending, (1) that plaintiff failed to prove that he was negligent and (2) that the trial court should have ruled as a matter of law that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence in failing to keep out of his way.
The basis of defendant’s appeal is that the evidence so conclusively supports his views as to these two points that the court was required to so rule as a matter of law and should not have submitted 'the matter to the jury. The plaintiff having-won a judgment below, the verdict is protected by a bulwark of rules firmly established in our law. First, by the general proposition that the judgment and proceedings in the lower court are presumptively correct with the burden upon defendant to show error.
The plaintiff and her friend, Della Robertson, were walking southward on the east side of Washington Boulevard, Ogden’s main street, between 26th and 27th Streets (just south of the busiest part of town) in the evening about twilight. As they
Defendant’s version was that he drove from the west on 26th Street, turned right and proceeded south on Washington in the right hand lane; that there was a car in front and to his left which obstructed his view so that he did not see the plaintiff, his first warning of the accident being the sound of the impact of his car against her. In conflict with defendant’s testimony, however, was that of a Mr. John Bums, who had come on to Washington Boulevard from the east at the same corner, and was driving to the left and rear of the defendant. He testified that there was no vehicle to the front and left of the defendant but that the defendant swerved from the right hand lane to the left as he approached the crosswalk where plaintiff was struck. The parties also disagree as to the manner of impact, the defendant claiming that the plaintiff walked into the side of his car, whereas the plaintiff’s evidence is that she was struck on the right leg by the left front part of defendant’s car.
It is unnecessary to discuss in any great detail the defendant’s contention that there is no evidence of his negligence. It is to be borne in mind that although the motorist and pedestrian are both required to exercise the same standard of care, that of the ordinary prudent person under the circumstances, that standard imposes upon the motorist a greater amount of caution than upon the pedestrian because of the potential danger to others in the operation of an automobile.
This brings us to the problem of importance: Defendant claims that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law, which if so, would bar her recovery.
The test we apply is whether from all of the evidence, reasonable minds could fairly say that they were not convinced by a preponderance of the evidence that she failed to use reasonable care under the circumstances and that this resulted in proximately contributing to cause her injury. Or, to state the proposition affirmatively, was the evidence so clear and compelling that all reasonable minds must say that it was established by a preponderance of the evidence that she was negligent and that such was a proximate cause of her injury?
In contending that this latter question must be answered affirmatively, defendant relies upon the proposition that the plaintiff must be deemed to have seen what was there to be seen, citing a number of cases handed down by this and other courts in support thereof;
Typical of such cases is Mingus v. Olsson
The evidence here is reasonably susceptible of a finding that the defendant was not on Washington Boulevard going toward plaintiff so as to constitute an imminent hazard to her at the instant she made her observation and proceeded westward. This fact is directly supported by the testimony of the plaintiff and Miss Robertson, which the jury were at liberty to believe unless the physical facts or other circumstances rendered it impossible or completely incredible. Plaintiff’s statement that she looked, and took “three or four steps” was obviously .but an approximation. Such matters are neither measured nor remembered with exactitude. It could have been a little more or a little less. It was not mandatory upon the’ jury to assume, as defendant attempts to do, that she walked at any particular speed in miles per hour or that any precise number of seconds elapsed. When one starts from a standstill, she does not necessarily do so at any particular speed or momentum. Hence, it would not have been outside the realm of reason for the jury to believe that the time element involved was anywhere from a second or two up to several seconds. Under the estimates given, the crosswalk seems to have been (could have been found to be) about 250 feet from the corner. Based on any of several time, speed, distance hypotheses, well within the limits of reason under the evidence, it is deducible that at the time plaintiff looked to the north the defendant was not on Washington Boulevard proceeding toward plaintiff; and at least was not necessarily so close to plaintiff to be a threat to her safety, and consequently, that she did not step from a place of safety to a place of danger as defendant charges.
The affirmance of the judgment need not, however, rest upon the hypothesis that defendant was not on Washington Boulevard at the time plaintiff stopped and looked. Assuming that the defendant was there and hence that plaintiff either saw or should have seen him, the trial court properly submitted the questions of her negligence and whether it proximately caused her injury to the jury.
The salient point is that the plaintiff, as a pedestrian in a marked' crosswalk,
Assuming that the interval between the time plaintiff stopped and looked, took “three or four steps” and then saw lights to the north and the car “practically upon her,” was as little as even four seconds— defendant’s own estimate of his speed, 25 miles per hour, which is 36 feet per second, would place him 144 plus feet away (the plus represents whatever distance he was from her when she saw the lights and the car “practically upon her” which would likely be one to two cars lengths) when plaintiff stepped westward on the crosswalk. The average stopping distance at that speed is about 59 feet. The 144 plus feet would therefore be sufficient to permit him to stop two or three times over. Furthermore, under the evidence, the jury could have found that he traveled faster than his own estimate of his speed. If he traveled 30 miles per hour, which is 44 feet per second, 4 seconds would put him 176 plus feet away; at that speed the stopping distance is 79 feet. It should be borne in mind that when defendant was such distance away, the plaintiff was in the middle of the street, clearly within the angle of vision of where the defendant should have been looking, and he was obliged to know that her only purpose in being there facing west was to cross the street. The “must be deemed to have seen what was there to be seen” rule also applies to the defendant; ■ so he must be deemed to have seen her. When she stepped forward west of the center line it would be an immediate warning to him that she was continuing to cross and that she claimed her right-of-way. It therefore seems so plain as to be beyond question that from the distances just postulated, as they reasonably could have been found by' the jury, the defendant had ample opportunity to not only safely,-but conveniently, slow down, turn to his right, or stop if necessary, to afford the plaintiff th'e right-of-way and avoid striking her. And the jury could reasonably find that in due care she might rely upon the assumption that he would do so until something occurred to warn her. to the contrary.
In determining whether it must be ruled as a matter of law that the plaintiff herself was negligent which contributed to cause her injury, consideration must be given, not only the fact that she had the right-of-way upon which she could place some reliance, but also that a pedestrain crossing a busy street must be constantly vigilant for her safety with respect to all of the conditions around her. Even if a car is seen approaching, unless it is so positioned as to constitute an immediate hazard to her, she is not necessarily obliged to focus full and undivided attention on that particular car and so calculate her entire conduct as to avoid being struck by it. She need not anticipate that the driver will speed, fail to observe, or to control his car, or fail to afford her the right of way, or otherwise be negligent unless in due care she observes or should observe something to warn her of such improper conduct. This is not to say that a pedestrian may claim a right-of-way in face of danger. She must of course be watching for automobiles or other vehicles on the street, particularly from the north whence traffic was most likely to come. But due care requires that she also keep a lookout ahead for other pedestrians, possible holes or obstructions in the street, and at least remain aware of the possibility of other traffic, lest she be guilty of failing to use reasonable care for her own safety in regard to other dangers. For these reasons she obviously is not necessarily required, and likely in due care cannot, give her entire attention to any one particular point of hazard. All that is required of her is that she use that degree of care which ordinary and reasonable persons usually observe under such circumstances.
Under the evidence here the jury may well have found that when the plaintiff looked to the north there was no car approaching within a distance of immediate hazard to her, and in view of the considerations above discussed as to her right-of-way, and the necessity of remaining aware of other conditions around her, that her conduct in placing some reliance upon the observation she made and proceeding westward across the street was consistent with her duty of ordinary and reasonable care for her safety.
In accord with such thought is the case of Olsen v. Peerless Laundry,
In order to upset plaintiff’s judgment defendant would also have to demonstrate that the evidence showed, with such certainty that all reasonable minds must so conclude, that negligence of the plaintiff concurred in proximately causing her own injury. For the purpose of discussing that point, assume that she was negligent in failing to see defendant. It is of course axiomatic that if the jury could reasonably find that the accident could just as well have happened without plaintiff’s negligence as with it, then the court is not required to rule as a matter of law that negligence of the plaintiff was a proximate cause of the injury.
This court has on numerous occasions dealt with that principle. In the case of Lowder v. Holley
On the same point is the ruling in Hess v. Robinson
Consistent with his duty of refusing to take questions of fact from juries except in cases free from doubt,
Judgment affirmed. Costs to respondent.
. Burton v. Z. C. M. I., Utah, 249 P.2d 514.
. Toomer’s Estate v. Union Pac. R. Co., Utah., 239 P.2d 163.
. Toomer’s Estate v. Union Pac. R. Co., supra; Great American Indem. Co. v. Berryessa, Utah, 248 P.2d 367; McCollum v. Clothier, Utah, 241 P.2d 468.
. Blashfield Cyclopedia of Automobile Law and Practice, Sec. 1393.
. 41-6-78, U.C.A.1953.
. Stickle v. Union Pacific R. Co., Utah, 251 P.2d 867; Raymond v. Union Pac. R. Co., 113 Utah 26, 191 P.2d 137; Oswald v. Utah Light & R. Co., 39 Utah 245, 117 P. 46.
. Stickle v. Union Pac. R. Co., supra.
. Cox v. Thompson, Utah, 254 P.2d 1047; Mingus v. Olsson, 114 Utah 505, 201 P.2d 495; David v. Pinkerton, 199 Wash. 579, 92 P.2d 706.
. Sant v. Miller, 115 Utah 559, 206 P.2d 719; Thomas v. Goldman, 4 Cir., 167 F. 2d 315; Arlington & Fairfax Motor Transp. Co. v. Simmonds, 182 Va. 796, 30 S.E.2d 581.
. Mingus v. Olsson, 114 Utah 505, 201 P.2d 495; Guy v. Lane, 345 Pa. 40, 26 A.2d 327; Mertens v. Lake Shore Yellow Cab and Transfer Co., 195 Wis. 646, 218 N.W. 85; Taylor v. Philadelphia Rural Transit Co., 111 Pa.Super. 575, 170 A. 327.
. See note 9, supra.
. Lang v. Barry, 71 Cal.App.2d 121, 161 P.2d 949. Hendricks v. Pappas, 82 Cal.App. 2d 774, 187 P.2d 436.
. 188 Minn. 364, 247 N.W. 250; see other cases noted in 96 A.L.R. 786.
.See discussion and cases cited in Martin v. Stevens, Utah, 243 P.2d 747.
. Utah, 233 P.2d 350. 352.
. Poulsen v. Manness, Utah, 241 P.2d 152; Hardman v. Thurman, Utah, 239 P.2d 215.
. See statement of Mr. Justice Frick in Newton v. Oregon Short Line R. Co., 43 Utah 219, 134 P. 567.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Iona COOMBS, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. William D. PERRY, Defendant and Appellant
- Cited By
- 28 cases
- Status
- Published