Bedell v. Androscoggin & Kennebec Railway Co.

177 A. 237, 133 Me. 268, 1935 Me. LEXIS 6
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedFebruary 1, 1935
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 177 A. 237 (Bedell v. Androscoggin & Kennebec Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bedell v. Androscoggin & Kennebec Railway Co., 177 A. 237, 133 Me. 268, 1935 Me. LEXIS 6 (Me. 1935).

Opinion

Hudson, J.

On motion and exceptions by defendant. Action of negligence resulting from a collision between an automobile and an electric car in the evening of December 18, 1933, at the junction of Sabattus Street and Campus Avenue in the City of Lewis-ton.

Sabattus Street, running easterly, is crossed by Campus Avenue, running northwesterly. Defendant’s railway is located on the south side of Sabattus Street and runs easterly across Campus Avenue but shortly before it reaches the avenue there are a switch and curved section of railway connecting the Sabattus Street line with one running on the easterly side of Campus Avenue. Approaching the switch, Sabattus Street has a twenty-five foot width of macadam, and a descending grade of two and a half to three per cent.

On this night (about 9:30), the defendant’s one-man-operated electric car came easterly on Sabattus Street and stopped at the switch, where it was accustomed to stop and let off and take on passengers. Some passengers alighted. Then the motorman shut the door, entered the interior of the car, turned the register, started to go to the controls, looked back through the left windows [270]*270of the car and saw an automobile (not the plaintiff’s but one immediately ahead of it) about two hundred feet distant coming towards him. He continued on to the controls, started the car forward into the switch and commenced to take the curve and cross Sabattus Street. When it had gotten partly across (just how far was in dispute), the plaintiff’s automobile, then being driven by one Bunker, ran into the left rear end of the electric car and was injured, on account of which the owner, not then present, seeks recovery of damages in this action. That evening the plaintiff had loaned her automobile to her brother, who, in turn, had let Bunker take it for his use. The estimated maximum rate of speed of the car on the curve was three miles per hour and of the automobile as it proceeded down Sabattus Street, slippery from ice, was fifteen miles per hour.

The plaintiff charges two distinct acts of negligence, viz: (1) Carelessly and negligently operating “its said electric car as to cause same to be propelled suddenly and without warning around the said curve into Campus Avenue, so that said electric car proceeded directly in front of the automobile, ... so that the plaintiff’s said automobile collided with the electric car, . . .” and, (2) negligently and carelessly causing “its said electric car in its progress across said Sabattus Street to be brought to a stop directly in the course of the plaintiff’s automobile, causing the said plaintiff’s automobile ... to collide with said electric car. . . .” Proof of the defendant’s alleged negligence as the proximate cause of the collision as set forth in either count is sufficient to justify the jury’s verdict for the plaintiff.

It is conceded that following Robinson v. Warren, 129 Me., 172, 151 A., 10, it was not incumbent upon the plaintiff herein to prove lack of contributory negligence and that were Bunker, the driver of the automobile, negligent, his negligence is not imputable to this plaintiff, a bailor, the bailment not being for carriage.

So now we must determine whether or not the verdict for the plaintiff is manifestly wrong. It is not necessary to discuss at length the duty that rests upon a motorman, as he starts his car from the right side of a street to make a left turn across it, for this Court already has stated:

[271]*271“Having his car so under control the motorman is required at all times,, to exercise due care and vigilance to avoid collisions, especially at crossings, and he must before making a crossing stop if necessary to avoid a collision with an approaching automobile or other vehicle, which is itself lawfully controlled. His duty is analagous to that of the driver of a motor car who crosses a street from right to left to enter a connecting road or driveway.” Dill v. Railway Co., 126 Me., 1, 3, 135 A., 248; Denis v. St. Ry. Co., 104 Me., 39, 70 A., 1047.

Even more recently, with reference to the duty of the driver of a motor car who crosses a street from right to left, our Court has declared:

“The law charges the driver of the car making such a crossing with the duty of so watching and timing the movements of the other car as to reasonably insure himself of the safe passage either in front or rear of such car, even to the extent of stopping and waiting if necessary. Fernald v. French, 121 Me., 4, 9, 115 A., 420; Esponette v. Wiseman, 130 Me., 297, 155 A., 650. No less strict rule can be applied to operators attempting to cross the right of way of cars coming from behind. Reasonable care must be exercised in ascertaining their presence in the passing lane. The precautions above stated must then be taken.” Verrill v. Harrington, 131 Me., 390, 395, 163 A., 266, 268; Reid et al. v. Walton et als., 132 Me., 212, 168 A., 876.

The record discloses the following credible evidence on which the jury, without being manifestly wrong, could have found actionable negligence upon the part of this defendant: That Sabattus was a city street of considerable traffic, with an appreciable down grade, and its macadam surface then, to the knowledge of the motorman, in a very slippery condition, extremely hazardous for automobile use; that this curve of the railway effected not simply a crossing of Sabattus Street but as well the intersection of the two streets; that its car in leaving the switch would, before making the turn to the left, for a short distance proceed straight ahead. [272]*272as though .to keep along on the railway on Sabattus Street and thus tend to mislead the driver of an automohile following it; that, although before starting the car from the switch, its motorman had looked back and had seen the headlights of an approaching car, yet, afterwards he did not .look again to ascertain if any automobile were coming with which there might be a collision, but proceeded blindly across the street, when the jury, no doubt, must have found that- the plaintiff’s automobile was so close at hand that the collision was imminent and that it resulted because the motorman did not exercise the required due care to ascertain the presence of the approaching car and “to watch and time its movements.” '

It is true that the operator of an electric car is not always bound to stop when he sees an approaching car, but if he sees or should see an automobile approaching so closely to his car that it is or would be reasonable to believe that there will be a collision unless he stops, then an observance of due care requires him to stop. In crossing a street the motorman must have his car under such control that it may be stopped to avoid collision with the operator of an automobile who himself is in the observance of due care. In this case, although contributory negligence as such played no. part in the determination of the case, the jury may have found that the driver of the automobile was not negligent; that he was proceeding carefully and slowly at a rate not exceeding fifteen miles per hour; that he saw and watched the movements of the electric car; that as it left the switch it appeared to be going straight ahead when suddenly and without warning it turned to the left and proceeded directly across in front of the automobile when it was impossible for its driver in the exercise of due care to avoid colliding with the electric car.

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Bluebook (online)
177 A. 237, 133 Me. 268, 1935 Me. LEXIS 6, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bedell-v-androscoggin-kennebec-railway-co-me-1935.