Schultz v. Pahlow Oil Co.
Schultz v. Pahlow Oil Co.
Opinion of the Court
This action is brought to recover damages sustained by reason of the injury and death of Leo Schultz as the result of the Pahlow Oil Company’s alleged negligent operation of an automobile coupe belonging to it. At the time of the accident, which happened forty miles south of Oshkosh, Hugo Pahlow was traveling in the automobile from Shawano to Milwaukee on a business trip for the company; and Leo Schultz and Meta Boehm were accompanying him.
On the trial it appeared without dispute that Pahlow drove the car, and that Miss Boehm sat in the middle and Schultz at the right side of the seat from the time they left Shawano at 11 p. m. until they were five miles south of Oshkosh. There, according to Miss Boehm’s and Pahlow’s testimony, the latter changed places with Schultz, who' then drove the car to the place of the accident. On that testimony the court concluded that the evidence established without dispute that Schultz was driving the car at the time of the accident; and that, therefore, the defendants were entitled to have the court grant their motion for a directed verdict in their favor.
The plaintiff contends that the court erred in those respects because of credible evidence to the following effect: After the accident happened, Pahlow and Miss Boehm walked to a
Those undisputed physical facts in respect to the skin, flesh, and blood on the jagged edges of the glass, which remained in the right windshield post, and the scraped and bloody condition of the right side of Schultz’s face, and his fractured skull, are circumstances which convincingly indicate that he was thrown through the right side of the windshield; and those circumstances, in connection with the further fact that the steering wheel was not damaged, reasonably warrant the inference that he was not behind the steering wheel and driving the car at the time of the accident.
Furthermore, that Schultz was not then driving the car could also' be reasonably inferred from testimony, which
Consequently, in view of those statements and the physical facts mentioned above, there was an issue for the jury as to whether Schultz was driving the car at that time, and the court was in error in concluding that the evidence conclusively established that Schultz was then driving, and that therefore the defendants were entitled to the direction of a verdict in their favor.
By the Court. — Judgment reversed, and cause remanded for a new trial.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Schultz, Administratrix v. Pahlow Oil Company and another
- Status
- Published