Brodd v. Priem

52 N.W.2d 429, 236 Minn. 148, 1952 Minn. LEXIS 637

• Court: Supreme Court of Minnesota
• Decided: March 7, 1952
• Docket: 35,623
• Status: Published

Opinions

Thomas Gallagher, Justice.

Action for damages for injuries sustained by plaintiff by reason of the alleged negligence of defendant in the operation of the latter’s automobile on state aid road No. 19 within the village limits of Blackduck on January 21, 1950.

At the close of the evidence, the court submitted to the jury the issue of defendant’s negligence and plaintiff’s contributory negligence. It returned a verdict in plaintiff’s favor in the sum of $4,000. Defendant’s subsequent motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict was denied, and judgment entered June 11, 1951. This is an appeal therefrom.

The only issue presented is whether, as a matter of law, plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence causing his injuries and damage.

State aid road No. 19, upon which the accident occurred, passes through a part of the village of Blackduck in an east-west direction and is known therein as Summit avenue. On January 21, 1950, about noon, plaintiff, then 80 years of age, coming from his home to the south of this highway, had entered it, turned to his right thereon, and was proceeding easterly on the south side thereof toward the village when he was struck from the rear by defendant’s car. At the time, the highway had a driving surface of approximately 24 feet, having been cleared to that width by a snowplow which had left snowbanks to the height of at least three feet on either side of the cleared portion.

Plaintiff testified that he had looked both to the east and west as he entered the highway and had seen no cars approaching from either direction; that he found the surface to be in an icy and treacherous condition because of ridges of ice, particularly on the north lane and center thereof; therefore, that he walked along the south lane about two feet out from the edge of the snowbanks; that as he progressed easterly he continuously looked for a place to cross over to the north lane and was struck almost immediately, after hearing a horn sound close behind him, by defendant’s car operated by defendant. The spot where he was struck, as stepped off by the deputy sheriff, was approximately 114 feet from the place where plaintiff first entered the highway.

Other witnesses testified that the point of contact was about 8 feet from the south side of the cleared portion of the highway, and that skid marks extended therefrom approximately 40 feet into and across the north ditch then filled with about 4% feet of snow.

Defendant asserts that, because of plaintiff’s violation of M. S. A. 169.21, subd. 5, which requires pedestrians to walk near the left-hand side of the roadway and to yield to oncoming traffic, and subd. 3, which requires pedestrians crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk to yield the right of way to all vehicles thereon, he must be held to have been guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law.

We have repeatedly held that by virtue of § 169.96 the violation of our highway traffic regulation statutes constitutes only prima facie evidence of negligence. Demmer v. Grunke, 230 Minn. 188, 42 N. W. (2d) 1; Hubred v. Wagner, 217 Minn. 129, 14 N. W. (2d) 115.

Here, there is much evidence from which a jury might conclude that plaintiff was justified in walking on his right-hand side of the highway. There were many icy ruts and ridges on the north lane and center thereof. Plaintiff chose the course most favorable to his line of travel and safety. He testified that he intended to cross to the north lane when he came to a point where the surface would permit crossing without undue risk of injury from a fall. It would not seem just to hold that in thus acting to protect himself he must be held guilty of negligence as a matter of law. In arriving at this conclusion, we find ample support in our previous decisions. As stated in Nicholas v. Minnesota Milk Co. 212 Minn. 333, 336, 4 N. W. (2d) 84, 86:

“If plaintiff was on the wrong side of the roadway, and conditions underfoot did not justify his being there as matter of due care, his position of peril was the result of his own negligence, and he was not entitled to the benefit of the emergency rule. It would have been otherwise if he had shown conditions which would have enabled the jury to say reasonably that it was due care for him to be where he was.”

See, also, Hubred v. Wagner, 217 Minn. 129, 14 N. W. (2d) 115; Wojtowicz v. Belden, 211 Minn. 461, 1 N. W. (2d) 409.

Defendant asserts further that, since plaintiff admitted that upon hearing defendant’s horn he turned abruptly to proceed to the north side of the highway without looking to his rear or yielding the right of way to defendant, as required by § 169.21, subd. 3, it must follow that he was guilty of negligence as a matter of law.

Plaintiff’s testimony with respect to this aspect of the case was as follows:

“Q. At the point where you heard the horn just tell the jury where you were walking with reference to the snow bank on the south side of the road.

“A. Well, I was right there where I was then, you know, and then the horn was blowing and he was right behind me, * * *

“Q. At the time you heard the horn what did you do?

“A. Well, I can’t tell you that, either. I suppose I tried to get across, maybe I stepped up, and that’s the time he hit me, see?

“Q. To your knowledge how far had you traveled northerly, if any, at the time that you were hit?

“A. I didn’t travel northerly at all, * * * I stepped out going to try to go across. I thought maybe he was behind.

“Q. About how much time elapsed from the time you heard the horn until you were hit?

“A. I was hit right away, I guess, as quick as I stepped off. I think I stepped off.”

The foregoing testimony does not constitute an admission on the part of plaintiff that he had actually commenced to cross to the north at the time he was struck by defendant’s car. Further, it is obvious therefrom that his actions after hearing defendant’s horn were involuntary and produced by fright at being suddenly apprised of the presence of a car close behind him. The court gave to the jury verbatim the requirements of § 169.21, subd. 3. After reading this and other sections to it, the court instructed the jury:

“If you find the plaintiff violated any of these statutes at the time of the accident then you should find that there was negligence on his part unless all the facts and conditions and circumstances disclosed by the evidence furnish such an explanation or excuse for violating such statute or statutes that you are not satisfied by a fair preponderance of the evidence that it was negligence to violate such statutes.”

These instructions, coupled with an appropriate charge on proximate cause, properly left this issue for the jury’s determination. Anderson v. Kelley, 196 Minn. 578, 265 N. W. 821.

Affirmed.