Rieck v. Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway Co.
Rieck v. Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff’s son, who was driving the automobile, testified that he looked to the south as' soon as he emerged from the alley and had a clear view, and that there was no street car in sight; that he was going about six miles an hour and turned north, and after proceeding northward from fifteen to twenty-five feet his auto was overtaken and struck by a north-bound street car. The plaintiff testified that he kept looking to the south after the auto emerged from the alley until it turned to the north, and that the street car was not within sight. He agreed with his son. as to the point of collision. It was a little past 5 o’clock on the afternoon of' August 7th, and there were no teams to obstruct the view. There is some dispute as to how far the street car would have to travel after coming within the range of vision of plaintiff and his son and until it proceeded as far north as the alley. As we understand the evidence, plaintiff places this distance at 241 feet and defendants place it at 300 feet. There is some obscurity in the testimony on this point, and we are not sure that we are giving the exact claims of the parties, but the variance, if there is any, is not substantial.
The defendants’ contention in regard to the accident was that the auto came out of the alley at a high rate of speed as the car was approaching; that the motorman, supposing the auto was going" to cross the track in front of the car, applied the brake and checked the speed; that the auto, instead of crossing, turned north and came to a standstill, or nearly so, and that the car, before it could be brought to a full stop, struck the fender of the auto and dented it. The force of the
If we accept as an established fact in the case the stoppage of the car at the corner of Clybourn and Fifth streets, we think the plaintiff made no case. It seems impossible that the car could descend the Clybourn-street hill, make the stop, and overtake the auto while it was going northward even the sixty-two feet last claimed. The plaintiff was looking until the auto turned north. The car would have to travel between four aiid five times as far as the auto did in order to overtake it, and of course four or five times as fast if it made no stop. The driver’s estimate of five or six miles an hour may not be strictly accurate. ITe referred to the rate of speed at which he was going as “creeping,” but inasmuch as the auto was good for twenty-five miles an hour, this language is not very significant, and can hardly be understood as qualifying his repeated statement that he knew he was going five or six miles an hour. When we consider that the curve would have to be rounded slowly, that it would require some time to stop and
If we were to accept as true the evidence given by defendants’ witnesses and of those sworn on behalf of the plaintiff on direct examination in reference to the point of collision, it would be difficult to say that the case presented a jury question even if the car did not stop at the crossing. On the basis of this evidence, the street car wortld have had to move at an average speed of about seven times as great as that of the auto in order to overtake it. It is hardly credible that the car could have slowed up for the turn and then have slowed down almost to a standstill when the auto was hit and still have acquired the necessary speed to overtake the auto while it wag going from fifteen to twenty-five feet.
The only thread on which the plaintiff’s case hangs is the evidence given by the plaintiff’s son on rebuttal. We cannot say that it is incredible that the car running at an excessive and negligent rate of speed could not have been out of sight when the auto turned north and still have overtaken the auto while it was traveling sixty-two feet, provided no stop was made at the corner. The thread is a pretty slender one, so slender that if the judgment of the civil'court had been affirmed we probably should not disturb it. Several witnesses for the defendants, as well as the plaintiff himself, contradict the son, and the latter agreed with the other witnesses when first examined. He made at least a plausible explanation for the change made in his evidence, which a jury might accept. It can hardly be said that the evidence is inherently incredible, and, unless it can be, the jury might find that it was true, although the evidence greatly preponderated the other way. Verdicts have been upheld in a number of cases that were about as contrary to the clear preponderance of the evidence as would be a verdict for the plaintiff in the present case. Hardy v. Milwaukee St. R. Co. 89 Wis. 183, 61 N. W.
By the Court. — Order affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Rieck v. Chicago & Milwaukee Electric Railway Company and others
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published