Carpenter v. Wolfe

273 N.W. 169, 223 Iowa 417
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMay 11, 1937
DocketNo. 43868.
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 273 N.W. 169 (Carpenter v. Wolfe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carpenter v. Wolfe, 273 N.W. 169, 223 Iowa 417 (iowa 1937).

Opinion

Stiger, J.

The accident out of which this case arises occurred about a mile east of Coon Rapids, Iowa, on highway No. 46 at a Y intersection. Highway 46 runs east and west and the Y intersection is formed by a road running north from highway 46. The approach on highway 46 to the intersection from the west is a slight ascending grade and on the day of the accident was a smooth, straight graveled, road. East of the intersection there is a slight descending grade. The distance from the west edge of the west wing of the Y intersection to center of the intersection is 100 feet.

On Sunday, June 3, 1934, the plaintiff and her husband, *419 George Carpenter, went to the home of Mr. Carpenter’s father and mother in Mr. Carpenter’s one-seated, 1930 model A Ford ear to spend Sunday with'them. Mr. Carpenter drove the car and was driving at the time of the accident. Mrs. Carpenter did not know how to drive a car. They were familiar with the intersection. On the trip home they drove east from Coon Rapids on highway 46. At this time the defendant Thomas Wolfe, 16 years of age, was driving a Master Chevrolet sedan, owned by his father, defendant- Channing E. Wolfe, east on 46 ahead of the Carpenter ear, both cars approaching' the intersection from the west. Miss Dorothy Vanderloo, 18 years of age, was riding with Thomas who testified that he intended to go to the center of the intersection, make a U-turn and return,to Coon Rapids. As the cars approached the intersection, the Wolfe car was on the right and south side of highway 46. At the west end of the intersection, Mr. Carpenter increased his speed and drove on the north side of the highway in an attempt to pass the Wolfe car and proceed east on 46.

Both ears reached the middle of the intersection at about the same time. At this point, Thomas Wolfe turned his car to the left, a collision followed and plaintiff’s car went in a northeasterly direction across the intersection into a ditch, then up a steep bank in the northeast corner of the intersection, and then rolled down into the ditch. Plaintiff sustained personal injuries and the Carpenter ear was damaged. The occupants of the Wolfe car were not injured and the damage to the car was negligible.

At the time of the accident there were no other cars in or approaching the intersection.

Thomas Wolfe, hereafter referred to as the defendant, testified that it was his intention to make a turn at the intersection; that before he got to the corner he signaled by putting his left arm straight out on the left side of the car; that before he signaled he saw the Carpenter car approaching from the rear at a distance of about 400 feet; that he held his arm out until he was almost to the middle of the intersection; that he started to turn about a foot beyond the middle of the intersection, traveling at about five miles per hour, and when the front wheels of his car were past the center of the road his car was struck by the Carpenter car.. He testified that the windows of his car were open and he did not hear any horn sounded and when he *420 came into the intersection he was traveling about ten miles per hour.

Mr. Carpenter testified that he remained back of the Wolfe car about 25 feet for several hundred feet before he reached the intersection; that when the cars reached the intersection and he observed that the Wolfe car did not turn north on the west wing of the intersection and that no cars were approaching the intersection, he sounded his horn and turned out to the north side of the road in order to pass; that defendant did not put out his arm or give any" signal that he intended to turn at the intersection until he started to make the turn to the left, at which time he put out his left arm; that both cars were traveling about 35 miles per hour when approaching the intersection; that when he saw the Wolfe car turning to the left, he sounded his horn and turned his car sharply in a northeasterly direction toward the ditch.

The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff in the sum of $975. The answers of the jury to special interrogatories disclose that it allowed plaintiff for personal injuries $850 and for damages to her husband’s car, whose claim had been assigned to her, $125.

The trial court overruled defendants ’ motion for a new trial and defendants appeal.

I. The first error relied on by appellant for reversal is that the verdict allowing damages for injuries to the Carpenter car was contrary to the evidence, and to certain instructions of the court. The material part of instruction No. 14 is as follows:

“Statutory provisions of the state of Iowa with respect to the driving and operation of motor vehicles upon the highway of the state are as follows: Code Section 5031: ‘ The person operating a motor vehicle * * * shall have the same under control and shall reduce the speed to a reasonable and proper rate * * * when approaching and traversing a crossing or intersections of public highways.’ A failure to observe the requirements of any of the foregoing sections of our Code would constitute negligence. ’ ’

The issue on this assignment is whether, under the circumstances, the question of negligence on the part of George Carpenter was for the jury. The defendant urges that Carpenter was guilty of violating Code Section 5031 as a matter of law.

*421 George Carpenter testified that about halfway up the hill approaching the intersection he overtook the defendant’s car and followed it at a distance of about 25 feet for several hundred feet and until he could see that the road was clear to the east; that as he came up to the intersection, he was on the north side of the road ready to pass defendant’s car, which was on the south side of the road, if the defendant did not signal an intention to turn north on the west wing; that the reason he did not attempt to pass defendant’s ear sooner was that he could not see over the intersection and observe cars approaching from the east until he was close to the intersection; that defendant was driving 30 to 35 miles per hour when he started to pass him in the intersection.

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Bluebook (online)
273 N.W. 169, 223 Iowa 417, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carpenter-v-wolfe-iowa-1937.