Cheney v. Buck

189 P. 81, 56 Utah 29, 1920 Utah LEXIS 21
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 30, 1920
DocketNo. 3400
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 189 P. 81 (Cheney v. Buck) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cheney v. Buck, 189 P. 81, 56 Utah 29, 1920 Utah LEXIS 21 (Utah 1920).

Opinions

WEBER, J.

The complaint is to the effect that on July 30, 1918, plaintiff was lawfully and rightfully riding a bicycle- near the junction of the state highway and Gentile street, in Layton, Davis county, and that defendant negligently, carelessly, and recklessly operated an automobile over and along said highway so as to cause it to run with great force and violence upon, and knock down, the plaintiff. The following acts of [31]*31negligence are charged in the complaint: (1) Operation of the automobile “at a speed greater than was reasonable and safe and without regard for the character, traffic, and common use of said street and highway, so as to endanger the life, limb, and safety of persons on said highway and street”; (2) driving “said automobile with a reeldess disregard for the safety of others, including plaintiff”; (3) failure to bring or have said automobile under control so that the same could be slowed down or immediately stopped to avoid collisions with persons or vehicles; (4) omitting to keep a proper lookout for persons and vehicles, including plaintiff; (5) failing to drive and handle said automobile in a skillful manner; and (6) failure to have said automobile equipped with efficient and serviceable brakes.

In his amended answer defendant denied all the acts of negligence charged against him and affirmatively alleged:

“That on the 30th day of July, 1918, he was driving an automobile on the right-hand side of the public highway through Davis county; that as he approached the intersection of said highway with Gentile street at Layton an automobile and a horse-drawn vehicle were passing eastwardly over the right-hand side of the intersection, and for a time obstructed defendant’s view of the left-hand side of the public highway immediately south of the intersection; that defendant reduced the speed of his car for the purpose of passing in the rear of the automobile and the horse-drawn vehicle passing to the eastward; that plaintiff was traveling northward on the west or left-hand side of the public highway, and as defendant passed said automobile and vehicle he, the said plaintiff, was in the act of turning westward on the right-hand side of Gentile street; that defendant instantly threw out the clutch, applied the brakes with great force, and at the same time swerved his car to the right and thereby avoided striking plaintiff, who continued his course westward; that plaintiff failed and neglected to stop his bicycle or to change its course, and by reason thereof, he ran said bicycle into and against the left rear fender of defendant’s automobile, and whatever injuries plaintiff received by or through said contact were caused by his own disregard of the rule of the road and in traveling upon the left-hand side thereof and in failing and neglecting to pass around the point of intersection of said streets and in cutting and riding close to the left-hand corner of the intersection and in failing and neglecting to stop his bicycle or to vary its course, and in himself running into and against defendant’s said automobile.”

[32]*32The case was tried to a jury, verdict was rendered for plaintiff, and from the judgment entered thereon defendant appeals.

It is unnecessary to go fully into detail as to the testimony save to allude to a few salient and important features. The scene of the accident is thus described by respondent’s counsel.

“The state road or main highway runs through Layton in a generally northerly and southerly direction. In the center of the town it is intersected at right angles on the west by what the witnesses call Gentile street; hut the continuation of Gentile street on the east is ‘jointed’; that is, ‘it veers off to the south.’ Gentile street at the west side of the main highway where the accident occurred is much wider, north and south, at the junction than on the east side; that is, it broadens out at the junction and is sort of fan or funnel shaped, and there are two distinct roadways branching out and entering the main highway, one on the south side and one on the north, with a hut little used V-shaped wedge or space in between. Only the southeast corner of this V, immediately north of the south road, was traveled, and only by vehicles going to the northeast corner, in the direction taken by the Heywood Ford automobile, hereinafter referred to. Gentile street some distance west of the westerly line of the main highway is but forty-four feet wide, whereas at its junction with the west side of the main highway it is about 100 feet wide. Gentile street, so called, at this point consists of two well-defined traveled roadways. Going into Gentile street would be on the south side of the road, leaving a three-cornered piece in the center very near triangular. This V-shaped space is approximately fifty feet wide at the broad or easterly end where it joins the main highway. The two roadways in question on each side of this V are each approximately twenty feet wide.”

On the morning of the accident, at about 8 o’clock, appellant Buck was traveling in a seven-passenger Cadillac car through the town of Layton at a high rate of speed, estimated by respondent’s witnesses at from thirty to forty miles per hour. Respondent was riding a bicycle northward on the east side of the same highway. Each was approaching Gentile street near the center of Layton. As respondent turned to go westward along the north or right-hand side of what has been described as the south traveled roadway leading into Gentile street, first a milk wagon coming from the west and going east on Gentile street, and then a Ford automobile going in the same direction, both headed eastward on the main [33]*33highway, passed in front of him. He was behind or just south of this Ford automobile when- hit by appellant’s automobile, which had been coming from the north. Respondent was riding at a speed estimated at not more than four miles per hour. Though going through Layton at a speed of from thirty to forty miles per hour, the evidence shows that appellant neither sounded a horn nor gave any other warning signals. One witness standing on the sidewalk at the northeast corner of the intersection, directly opposite Gentile street, seeing appellant’s automobile coming south on the main highway, and seeing the Ford'automobile coming from the west, and seeing respondent on his bicycle on the south side of the Ford machine, and fearing that an accident was about to occur, waved his hat and called for appellant to stop. Appellant testified that he neither saw nor heard this man. Without perceptible slacking of speed, appellant continued southward, veered to the west as he came to the Ford machine, turning, as some witnesses say, from ten to twelve feet, or ten to fifteen, or possibly as far as twenty feet west into Gentile street. Turning then to the main highway to pass the Ford machine, appellant saw an electric light pole in front of him on the southwest corner, and to avoid collision with the pole turned his automobile in an easterly direction, when the collision with the respondent riding the bicycle occurred. After hitting respondent, though the brakes were applied by appellant, he continued on across the main highway and to the east side of it for a distance of from 100 to 125 feet.

Appellant argues that the speed of the car had no causal connection with the accident, that there was not sufficient evidence of negligence on the part of appellant to go to the jury, and that respondent was guilty of contributory negligence. It is argued that appellant might have gone faster and the accident have been avoided. Possibly so.

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Related

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284 P.2d 691 (Utah Supreme Court, 1955)
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9 P.2d 183 (Utah Supreme Court, 1932)
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196 P. 1002 (Utah Supreme Court, 1921)

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Bluebook (online)
189 P. 81, 56 Utah 29, 1920 Utah LEXIS 21, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cheney-v-buck-utah-1920.