Acker v. Columbus & Southern Ohio Electric Co.

60 N.E.2d 932, 42 Ohio Law. Abs. 430, 1944 Ohio App. LEXIS 505
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 16, 1944
DocketNo. 3752
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 60 N.E.2d 932 (Acker v. Columbus & Southern Ohio Electric Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Acker v. Columbus & Southern Ohio Electric Co., 60 N.E.2d 932, 42 Ohio Law. Abs. 430, 1944 Ohio App. LEXIS 505 (Ohio Ct. App. 1944).

Opinion

[432]*432OPINION

By HORNBECK, J.

This is an appeal on questions of law from a judgment in the sum of $30,000.00 in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant entered on a unanimous verdict of a jury. We hereinafter discuss specifically the errors assigned.

Plaintiff’s decedent, Francis Acker, was a passenger in a Ford coupe driven by Samuel K. Martin which was struck by a trolley bus of the defendant company, killing plaintiff’s decedent. The accident occurred at the intersection of Champion Avenue and Oak Street in the city of Columbus. The bus was moving in a westerly direction and the Ford in a northerly direction. The collision occured in the north half of Oak Street, the exact place being in dispute. The bus struck the Ford betweén the right door and the rear thereof. Oak Street is a main throughfare, by reason of which and because the bus was to the right of the Ford as it entered this intersection the bus had the right of way, if approaching the intersection in a lawful manner.

The petition sets out six specifications of negligence, four of which were permitted to go to the jury. The acts of negligence submitted were: excessive speed of the bus in violation of §6307-21 GC; failure to sound a warning of its approach: failure to maintain a lookout; failure to stop or direct the course of the bus so as to avoid striking the Ford.

The answer of defendant admits that the death of plaintiff’s decedent occurred as a result of the collision; avers that the Ford coupe did not come to a stop before entering the intersection; and did not yield the right of way to the trolley coach and that the collision was due to the sole negligence of the operator of the Ford and decedent and generally denies all other averments. The reply denies that the collision was caused by any negligence on the part of the plaintiff’s decedent or the driver of the Ford and denies generally other averments of the answer.

Appellant urges, first, that it is entitled to a final judgment in its favor in this Court because it had the right of way and was not traveling in an unlawful manner when the collision occurred. This is denied by appellee, is issuable under the pleadings and the question is whether or not under [433]*433the factual developments the plaintiff had the right to go to the jury on this issue. Giving to plaintiff’s testimony its most favorable intendment, which we are required to do, we are of opinion that there was a question for the jury if the trolley coach was approaching the intersection where the collision occurred in a lawful manner.

This Court has many times determined that the gist of former §12603 GC, practically identical in subject matter germane to our question with present §6307-21 GC, is to make unlawful the driving of a motor vehicle at a rate of speed faster or slower than is reasonable and proper under all the conditions appearing in the section. These conditions as applied to the street at the intersection here, were the width, the surface and the condition thereof as affected by the weather. The street was damp, it was a misty day, there were steel tracks in the street.' These conditions were somewhat out of the ordinary and indicated that it may have been more difficult than usual for the driver of the bus to keep it under proper control and to bring it to a stop. In this situation, it was not requisite to a violation of the section that the driver of the coach exceed the prima facie lawful rate of speed of 35 miles per hour at the intersection. Baker v James E. Wright, No. 2163, Franklin, unreported, decided June 30, 1932; Vetel v Meikeljohn, et al., 12 Abs 567; Davies v Marshall, 13 Abs 282, 37 L. R. 514, all cases from this District. Our Court of last resort has so held in Swoboda v. Brown, 129 Oh St, 512, as have the courts in many other jurisdictions,— State v. Blair, 24 Oh Ap, 413, 157 N. E. 801; Taxi & Delivery Company v. McGrew, 16 Oh Ap 219; Transfer Company v Pizzulo, 53 Oh Ap 470, 5 N. E. (2d) 796; Easterly v. Youngstown Arc. Engraving Company, 59 Oh Ap 207, 17 N. E. (2d) 416.

[434]*434[433]*433There is, however, evidence of Mr. Martin, the driver of the Ford, from which.it may be logically inferred that the coach was being operated in excess of 35 miles per hour. He testified that after stopping at the stop sign on Champion Avenue preliminary to moving into Oak Street and as he entered the intersection, he looked to his right, the direction from which the bus was coming, and at that time could see approximately one-half square up Oak Street. He estimates the time that it took him to travel from his entrance into Oak Street to the point of collision. He also states that the bus was moving as a “flash of yellow”. This connotes great speed. In N. O. T. Co. v. Drown, 7 O. C. C. (N. S.) 549, testimony of a witness that he saw a cloud of dust as the street [434]*434car passed, was held to be competent upon the rapidity of the movement of the street car. We do not find that there is any probative effect on the question of the rate of speed of the bus in the testimony of Mrs. Cook for the reason that she states that she did not see the bus although she was looking up Oak Street in the direction from which it was coming and had uninterrupted vision for more than a square in that direction. The statement that she did not see a bus which must have been coming toward her which was 36% feet long, 3% feet wide and weighed 19,000 lbs., painted yellow, is irreconcilable with the physcal facts. She cannot be heard to say that she did not see that which she must have seen. The only logical explanation of her failure to see the bus is that she must not have kept her eyes fixed on the street over which it had to move as it approached the intersection and the place of collision. Inferences as to the reasonableness of the speed of the bus may also be drawn from the power of the impact of the bus with the Ford as indicated by the fact that it was forced across Oak Street, turned in an opposite direction, that the bus then proceeded to the north side of Oak Stree, struck a parked car and bent its front wheels and the distance that it traveled after the collision notwithstanding objects with which it came in contact. Counsel for the parties go to great length to demonstrate by mathematical computation their respective contentions. On the one hand, that it clearly appears that the coach was exceeding 40 miles per hour at the time of the collision, and, on the other, that it could not have been moving so fast and that it may have been moving as slowly as 12% miles per hour. These conclusions are permissible depending upon the correctness of the assumptions but no assumption as. to the exact rate of speed is absolute under .the variable facts of this record. We hold that the defendant is not entitled to a judgment in its behalf upon its claim that it conclusively appears that it did not violate §6307-21 GC.

The second specific assignment of error is that the Court erred in refusing to give to the jury before argument defendant’s special instruction No. 1, which was to the effect that the jury might determine whether or not plaintiff’s decedent was chargeable with contributory negligence. It is conceivable in any case that a passenger in an automobile may be charged with contributory negligence but, obviously, there must be some reasonable inferences to be drawn from the facts which would support a finding that the passenger was negligent and that his negligence contributed to his injury.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Stone
534 N.E.2d 213 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1989)
People v. Everist
201 N.E.2d 655 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1964)
State v. Wall
185 N.E.2d 115 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1962)
Senn, Admx. v. Lackner
107 N.E.2d 558 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1951)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
60 N.E.2d 932, 42 Ohio Law. Abs. 430, 1944 Ohio App. LEXIS 505, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/acker-v-columbus-southern-ohio-electric-co-ohioctapp-1944.