Clos v. Chapman

33 Ohio Law. Abs. 307
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 6, 1940
DocketNo 465
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 33 Ohio Law. Abs. 307 (Clos v. Chapman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clos v. Chapman, 33 Ohio Law. Abs. 307 (Ohio Ct. App. 1940).

Opinions

OPINION

By BARNES, J.

The above entitled cause is now being determined as an error proceeding by reason of defendant’s appeal on questions of law from the judgment of the • Court of Common' Pleas of Greene County, Ohio.

The action was one for damages for the alleged negligence on the part of defendant in which the plaintiff claimed that on the 8th day of June, 1939, she was riding in her automobile which was being driven, by her nusband on Route 68, just north of the city of Xenia, in a northerly direction. The plaintiff claims that the defendant approached from the rear and attempted to pass plaintiff; that in doing so the defendant’s machine struck the plaintiff’s machine in the rear knocking it in a cross position on the highway and then struck it again broadside on the left hand side, and that by reason thereof plaintiff was injured.

The defendant admitted that plaintiff was driving in a northerly direction, and the defendant going in the same direction attempted to pass the plaintiff, and in doing so there was a very light contact between the two cars; that thereafter the defendant stopped and observed that plaintiff was not injured.

The answer denied all other allegations of the petition.

There is a wide variance as to what the parties claim was the manner of contact of the two machines, and a like variance as to the nature and extent of the injuries.

The case was tried to a jury and following the submission of the case to-them they brought in a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $5000.

[309]*309Motion for new trial was filed, overruled and judgment entered on the verdict and within proper time due notice of appeal on question of law was given by the defendant-appellant. Appellants in their brief set out the following separately stated specifications of error.

(1) The court erred in its general charge.

(2) The Court erred in refusing to give interrogatory No. 1 and No. 4.

(3) The Court erred in its remark to the jury after the jury had the case under consideration for one whole day..

(4) The Court erred ' in excluding evidence sought to be introduced by the defendant.

(5) The verdict is not sustained by sufficient evidence either as to the question of liability or as to the amount of damages assessed.

(6) Damages assessed by the jury are excessive and appear xo have been given under the influence of passion and prejudice.

We now take up and determine the several assignments of error in the same order as presented in appellant’s brief.

-FIRST ASSIGNMENT — The Court erred in its general charge.

The specific language of the trial court complained of is found on page 337 of the record, which reads as follows:

“However, there is no evidence in .this case that the driver of the plaintiff’s car did anything that would have prevented the defendant from passing it in safety and it further being admitted by the defendant that she sideswiped the ear in which the plaintiff was riding, the Court charges you as a matter of law that the defendant was guilty of negligence which was- the proximate cause of the collision.”

Counsel for. appellant argue that this was a factual question to be determined by the jury, and that the trial court committed prejudicial error -in givi&g the instruction that the defendant was guilty of negligence as a matter' of law.

Before the abolishment of the scintilla rule by the Supreme Court in the Hamden Lodge case, this instruction of the trial court probably would have been prejudicial error.. The hard surface portion of the highway at the place of the collision was some 20 feet in width, with a line down the center to separate the right and left portions of the road. Ail withnesses agree that plaintiff’s car was at all times on its right hand side of the - road.

Defendant had a guest passenger in her car and according to the testimony of both, they followed plaintiff’s car for some distance, and then proceeded to start around it; in so doing there was a contact between the two cars. Defendant, in answer to a question by her counsel, made the following statement:

“Well, we followed them for quite a little ways and they were -going - very slow, so we decided we would go around and when I started around I scraped them a little and their machine apparently seemed to swing in just a little and I scraped their car just a little and I stopped as quick as I could.”

This answer, standing alone, might leave the inference that the swinging in of plaintiff’s car followed the contact. Possibly this was not intended. At another point in ’ her examination we find the following quesxion and answer:

Q. “In passing the car did Mr. Clos change his course in any way when you went to go around him?
A. “Well he seemed to swing in a little on the left hand side.”

There was no evidence that defendant gave any signal of their desire to pass plaintiff’s car. ' All witnesses admit that Mr. Clos, the driver of plaintiff’s car, was at all times on his right hand side of the road, and that defendant had an abundance of room to pass. ; : .

[310]*310Mr. Poppe, the guest passenger in defendant’s car, gives no evidence of the driver of plaintiff’s car swerving to'the left. Plaintiff and her husband, the latter being the driver of the car, both testified that there was no swerving of their car.

Taking the testimony as a whole, we are unable to determine that reasonable minds could have differed on this question, and hence the trial court committed no error in instructing the jury as a matter of law that the defendant was guilty of negligence in bringing her car m contact with that of plaintiff’s.

SECOND ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR—

The Court erred in refusing to give interrogatory No. 1 and No. 4.

Interrogatories Nos. 2 and 3 were given. Nos. 1 and 4 read as follows:

“Interrogatory No. 1. What part of the auto in which plaintiff was riding came in contact with what part of the defendant’s auto?”
“Interrogatory No. 4. If you answer interrogatory No. 2 in the affirmative, could the defendant have foreseen or reasonably anticipated as the probable result of the contact between the two autos that the plaintiff would have received any of the injuries of which plaintiff complains?”

The procedure through which interrogatories are presented to the jury is authorized under §11420-17 GC. This section reads as follows:

“Section 11420-17 GC. — Finding on questions of fact; journal entry. When either party requests it, the court shall instruct the jurors, if they render a general verdict, specially to find upon particular questions of fact, to be stated in writing, and shall direct a written finding thereon. The verdict and finding must be entered on the journal and filed with the Clerk.”

In the annotation to this section in Page’s Ohio General Code, Annotated, reference is made to a great number of Ohio cases. Rather than make specific reference to pertinent cases referred to m the annotations, we make definite statements of conclusions with general observation that such conclusions are amply supported by the Ohio Courts.

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Bluebook (online)
33 Ohio Law. Abs. 307, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clos-v-chapman-ohioctapp-1940.