Armer ex rel. Armer v. Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway Co.

37 N.W.2d 607, 151 Neb. 431, 1949 Neb. LEXIS 100
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMay 26, 1949
DocketNo. 32613
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 37 N.W.2d 607 (Armer ex rel. Armer v. Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Armer ex rel. Armer v. Omaha & Council Bluffs Street Railway Co., 37 N.W.2d 607, 151 Neb. 431, 1949 Neb. LEXIS 100 (Neb. 1949).

Opinion

Boslaugh, J.

This controversy involves damages claimed to have resulted from injuries sustained by appellant in a collision of a bus of appellee with a bicycle of appellant while operated by her.

The basis of the action was alleged negligent operation of the bus resulting in injuries and damages to appellant. She charged negligence as follows: That appellee failed to keep a proper lookout; failed to warn appellant of the approach of ‘ the bus; failed to reduce the speed of, or stop, the bus and avoid the collision with appellant; drove the bus on the west, or wrong, side of the street; operated it at a high and unlawful speed contrary to the ordinance of the city of Omaha and statutes of the State of Nebraska, to wit, 40 miles an hour; that appellee saw, or should have seen, appellant in a position of imminent peril of being injured by the bus in time for it, by the exercise of ordinary care with means at hand and with safety to the bus, to have avoided injury to appellant by decreasing the speed thereof or stopping it, or operating it on the east, or right-hand, side of the street, or by giving a timely warning of its approach, but negligently failed to do so and thereby proximately caused injuries to appellant; and that an ordinance of the city .requires speed at the location involved so as not to endanger any person, and in no event in excess of 25 miles an hour.

Appellee denied the claims of appellant and alleged the collision was the direct and proximate result of her negligence which was more than slight. Appellant, replied with a denial, and alleged that she was a child of tender years, was incapable of being negligent, and was not negligent under the circumstances.

Motion of appellee to dismiss the action, made at the [434]*434close of the evidence of appellant, was sustained. Motion for new trial was denied.

The question in this case is whether or not the trial court was justified in discharging the jury and dismissing the case. The answer thereto depends on whether or not the evidence of appellant standing alone and accepted as true has probative force sufficient to make a prima facie case for her, and since judgment went against her, she is entitled to have all material and relevant evidence and all inferences fairly deducible therefrom viewed in the most favorable light in testing the correctness of the ruling of the court granting the motion of appellee and dismissing the case. Guyette v. Schmer, 150 Neb. 659, 35 N. W. 2d 689.

The evidence tends to establish that:

The place of the collision was at the first alley north of Lincoln Boulevard on the west side of Thirty-third Street in Omaha, Nebraska. Thirty-third Street is 35.4 feet wide, paved with brick, and extends from north to south. It is 174 feet from the north curb of Lincoln Boulevard to the north curb of the alley on the west side of Thirty-third Street, and 279 feet from the north curb of Lincoln Boulevard to the north curb of Cuming Street — the first street south of Lincoln Boulevard. Lincoln Boulevard and Cuming Street extend east and west and intersect Thirty-third Street. The entire distance from the north curb of Cuming Street to the north curb of the first alley north of Lincoln Boulevard on the west side of Thirty-third Street, the place of the accident, is 453 feet. The grade of Thirty-third Street from Cuming Street to Lincoln Boulevard declines 17.87 feet. From the intersection of Lincoln Boulevard with Thirty-third Street to the center of the alley on the west side of Thirty-third Street there is an incline of about 4 feet. There is a clear view from the alley south to Cuming Street, and anyone in the center of Thirty-third Street opposite the alley can easily see the center [435]*435of Thirty-third and Cuming Streets, a distance of 453 feet.

Lou Ann Armer was 11 years old on the 25th of February, 1947. The date and time of the accident was June 9, 1947, about 6:15 p. m. Appellant attended the public schools and was in the fifth grade. She received her bicycle from her mother as a birthday remembrance about two weeks before February 25, 1947. No instructions about safety matters were given her when she got it. She had ridden bicycles for about two years before the time of the accident, rode, a good deal, and was good at riding. She did not ride to school. Her parents had not told her -not tó cross a street in the middle of a block. No one told her that when she was learning to ride, but she was told at school not to do so. She did not know at or before the time of the accident that she was supposed to make a signal for a left turn. Before the accident she was riding her bicycle west on Lincoln Boulevard. When she came to Thirty-third Street she turned and traveled north on that street, looked to see if there were any cars or traffic, and there were none. She traveled north on Thirty-third Street, closer to the center than the west curb, and continued north in the center of the street. She looked and saw no bus as she turned into Thirty-third Street. When she was near the alley on the west side of Thirty-third Street, she turned west to go into the alley, and when she was about into it she looked south. “I turned my head and saw the bus was real close.” . The bus hit her, and the next thing she remembered was when she woke up in the hospital. She could not tell how far away the bus was when she saw it. “It was really close, I can not tell how far because I don’t know.” She heard no horn sounded. It was upgrade from Lincoln Boulevard to the alley. When she got pretty close to the alley, or right beside this west alley, she made a turn to the west, but did not look 1 for anyone coming and did not put out her hand. She made a turn and “!|! * * [436]*436went a little bit and there was the bus right close * * That is the first time she saw the bus. It was almost on her; it was swinging towards the alley, towards the north and west, and that is the first time she saw it. “And then the collision occurred right then.” The bus was traveling north on Thirty-third Street. The “squealing” of the brakes and the “screeching” of the tires of the bus were heard some distance before the collision. It traveled from a little east of the center of Thirty-third Street in a northwesterly direction across into the mouth of the alley, and stopped with the front wheels of the bus over the north curb of the alley in the parking, and the rear wheels of the bus against the north curb of the alley. A person about 75 feet from the accident heard no horn sounded by the bus, heard the “squeaking of the brakes,” saw the right front of the bus hit appellant as she was entering the mouth of the alley. It was a clear day and the pavement was dry. Appellant was thrown from her bicycle and was lying in the gutter unconscious after being struck by the bus. There were skid marks back of the bus from the rear wheels a distance of 60 to 65 feet. The bus at the time of the accident was traveling in excess of 40 miles an hour. At a speed of 25 miles an hour a vehicle would travel 37% feet per second, and at a speed of 40 miles an hour would travel 60 feet per second. The average reaction time of a professional driver, such as a bus driver, is approximately five-eighths of a second. At a' speed of 40 miles an hour-, the bus would travel about 37 feet in five-eighths of a second, or during the reaction time. A bus of the type involved in this accident traveling at 25 miles an hour could be stopped in 25 feet from the time the brakes were applied, and to this should be added the reaction time of 22 feet.

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Bluebook (online)
37 N.W.2d 607, 151 Neb. 431, 1949 Neb. LEXIS 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/armer-ex-rel-armer-v-omaha-council-bluffs-street-railway-co-neb-1949.