Ceccacci v. Garre

76 P.2d 283, 158 Or. 466, 1938 Ore. LEXIS 23
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 25, 1938
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 76 P.2d 283 (Ceccacci v. Garre) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ceccacci v. Garre, 76 P.2d 283, 158 Or. 466, 1938 Ore. LEXIS 23 (Or. 1938).

Opinion

KELLY, J.

This is an action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by plaintiff who had been driving an auto truck loaded with vegetables packed in crates and boxes and who had stopped his truck near NE. 39th Avenue on the northerly and right-hand side of NE. Sandy Boulevard in Portland, with the front wheels of his truck slanting in toward an adjacent filling station and on the driveway thereof and the rear wheels resting from one and one-half to four feet from the curb line. After stopping his truck, plaintiff set the brakes, got out of his cab leaving the motor running and went around toward the rear end of his truck.

The accident occurred at approximately 4 o’clock a. m. of August 7,1936. At this time defendant’s son was driving a truck belonging to defendant in a westerly direction on said Sandy Boulevard, toward its intersection with said NE. 39th Avenue, and as plaintiff was standing at the rear of his truck and inspecting the load, defendant’s truck collided with plaintiff’s truck, throwing the load off of plaintiff’s truck and over and upon plaintiff causing the injuries for which *469 recovery is sought. The place of the collision was within the business district of the city of Portland.

Originally defendant’s answer, besides denying the allegations of negligence set forth in plaintiff’s complaint, also alleged contributory negligence on plaintiff’s part, in failing to keep a proper or any lookout for his own safety, in parking his truck on Sandy Boulevard without having the rear lights lit and burning, in operating his truck when it was not equipped with rear lights and in parking his said truck in the street away from the curb.

On the second day of the trial, after plaintiff’s witness, Officer Ide, testified to skid marks placing the rear wheel of plaintiff’s truck some four feet south of the curb and after plaintiff testified that the rear right wheel of his truck was approximately a foot and a half from the curb, defendant sought and obtained an order of the court permitting him to amend his answer by adding to the above specifications of negligence the following:

“in violation of ordinance No. 61219 passed by the city council of the City of Portland, August 12, 1931, which was in full force and effect at the time of the accident hereinabove described, being an ordinance regulating traffic, providing .a penalty for violation thereof, repealing ordinance No. 52353 as amended and all other ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith and declaring an emergency.”

Plaintiff requested the court, among other things to instruct the jury as follows:

“There has been some evidence to the effect that the plaintiff stopped his truck a short distance out from the northerly curb of Sandy Boulevard. Parking an automobile or truck means something more than just stopping on the highway. Automobilists who exercise due care may, in an emergency, use a portion of the *470 roadway for making necessary inspections of Ms car, load or make emergency repairs, or for the performance of other acts rendered necessary by the emergency of of his car to proceed in safety to himself or to his load; such temporary stopping being incidental to travelers are regarded as proper use of the highway and not as what is commonly known as ‘parking’. There is no definition in the laws of the State of Oregon of the word, ‘park’ but it is understood to mean something more than mere temporary or momentarily stopping on the road for a necessary purpose, and if the plaintiff believed or had reason to believe that his truck together with the load thereon was insecure and might cause him injury he had a right to stop the car on the highway and to inspect his load or car. (Martin v. Oregon Stages Inc. 129 Ore. 435) (Dore v. Boss, 111 Ore. 190) (Holman v. Uglow, 137 Ore. 365). If you find from the evidence that the plaintiff temporarily stopped his truck when the rear end was more than one foot away from the curb line, notwithstanding that fact, if you find that defendant was negligent in any one or all of the particulars set out in plaintiff’s complaint and that the act of plaintiff in temporarily stopping his truck more than one foot away from the curb line was not the proximate cause of the accident and the particular cause of the accident was the act or acts, or negligence of the defendant then your judgment shall be for the plaintiff in such sums as general and special damages as you may decide. ’ ’

The trial court did not give the foregoing instruction requested by plaintiff; but, upon that phase of the case, instructed the jury as follows:

“Now then, we have a city ordinance in tMs city that provides where you park a car in the city you should park it not more than one foot from the curb, and if in this case you should find from the evidence, in the first place, that the plaintiff did park his car more than one foot from the curb, that would be negligence as a matter of law; and if you should further find that this negligence contributed to bringing about this accident, *471 then the plaintiff in this case conld not recover. However, the duty rests upon the defendant to satisfy you by the weight of' the evidence that the car was improperly parked.”

The jury returned a verdict for the defendant and from the judgment based upon that verdict plaintiff prosecutes this appeal.

It is argued by plaintiff that the city of Portland was without any authority to enact the ordinance above mentioned. This argument is based upon the provisions of sections 6 and 7-a and 50-a of chapter 360, Oregon Laws 1931, and the holding of this court as recently announced by Mr. Justice Bailey in the case of Winters v. Bisaillon, 152 Or. 578 (54 P. (2d) 1169).

Said sections 6, 7-a and 50-a are as follows:

“Section 6. The provisions of this act shall be applicable and uniform throughout this state and in all political subdivisions and municipalities therein and no local authority shall enact or enforce any rule or regulation in conflict with the provisions of this act unless expressly authorized herein.
“Section7. (a) Local authorities, except as specifically authorized in this act, shall have no power or authority to alter any of the regulations declared in this act, or to enact or enforce any rule or regulation contrary to the provisions of this act, except that local authorities shall have power to provide by ordinance for the regulation of traffic by means of traffic officers or semaphores or other signal devices on any portion of the highway where traffic is heavy or continuous, and may prohibit other than one-way traffic upon certain highways, and may regulate the use of the highways by processions or assemblages; provided, however, that where one-way traffic is provided for, such authorities shall erect and maintain suitable signs at reasonable intervals upon said highway informing the public of such fact.
*472 “All such signs shall be so placed as to be visible to the driver of an approaching vehicle.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
76 P.2d 283, 158 Or. 466, 1938 Ore. LEXIS 23, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ceccacci-v-garre-or-1938.