Cohen v. Weinstein

231 Ill. App. 84, 1923 Ill. App. LEXIS 150
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 10, 1923
DocketGen. No. 28,384
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 231 Ill. App. 84 (Cohen v. Weinstein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cohen v. Weinstein, 231 Ill. App. 84, 1923 Ill. App. LEXIS 150 (Ill. Ct. App. 1923).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Johnston

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an appeal by Ida Cohen from a judgment on a verdict rendered against her in an action brought by her for damag’es for injuries received by her from being struck by appellee’s automobile.

One of the grounds on which a reversal is sought is that the verdict is manifestly against the weight of the evidence. Just before the accident appellant, with two of her children, was riding to her home near 79th street in the City of Chicago, in an automobile with two friends, Harry Leach and Alfred Server. They proceeded north on South Shore Drive, which is a north and south street, and stopped on the east side of South Shore Drive between 79th and 78th streets, both of which latter streets are east and west streets. Leach and Server remained in the automobile and were in it at the time of the accident. Appellant got out of the automobile, took one of the children, went across South Shore Drive to the west side of the street and thence to her home. She then started to cross the street to return to the automobile to get her other child. Appellee’s automobile, which was going north in South Shore Drive, struck her, breaking her leg and otherwise injuring her. She now walks with a limp, complains of pains and says that she cannot use one of her arms, and also states that she is unable to do some of her household work. The accident occurred about ten o’clock at night.

It is not disputed that the street was well lighted. Appellee testified that there was “plenty of light there.” There were no other vehicles or persons in the street- except those in question. There was nothing in the street to obstruct the view. The locality is a residential portion of the city.

Appellant testified that when she was struck she had one foot on the west curb and one foot in the street; that she heard no horn before she was hit. This is all that she knows about the accident as she was rendered unconscious.

Harry Leach testified in behalf of appellant that appellee’s automobile was about 50 feet away when he first saw it; that it was going north on South Shore Drive on the west side of the street; that as appellee “came closer he went more to the west side”; that “by the time he got up he was pretty well over the west curb”; that appellee did not sound a gong or blow a horn; that he was going at the rate of 25 or 30 miles an hour. Leach further testified that at the time appellant was struck she was on the west side of the street, and “practically down a little from the curbstone, a couple of feet away.” On cross-examination there was some confusion in Leach’s testimony as to whether he meant to testify that appellant was 8, 10 or 15 feet from the curb when she was struck. When he was asked the direct question, however, whether she was 15 feet from the curb, he stated that she was not; that she was a “little bit down from the curb.” Leach further testified that when appellee’s automobile struck appellant it dragged her over the curb until it struck a lamp-post about 10 or 12 feet away; that there is a grass plot between the sidewalk and the curb and that the lamp-post is “at the grass plot”; that the automobile “knocked the post right off”; that it took about twelve or fifteen men to lift the machine.

The testimony of Alfred Server in behalf of appellant is substantially the same as Leach’s. Server testified that appellant was on the west side of the street when she was struck; that “she was about near the curb; she was down to the curb; about 6 inches or a foot from the curb”; that when he first saw appellee’s automobile it was about 3 feet away from appellant; that it was “going kind of north” — in a northwesterly direction; that after it hit her it ran as far as the lamp-post; that it “broke the lamp-post in two”; that appellant was underneath the car; that they “had to get a crowd and jack up the machine to get her out”; that he heard no gong or horn; that appellee was going about 25 or 30 miles an hour.

Appellee testified that his wife and baby were with him in his automobile; that he was going north on South Shore Drive; that at the place of the accident South Shore Drive is 32 feet wide; that when he reached 79th street he “slowed up to about 8 miles for the tracks”; that he saw a machine up the street on the right-hand side, right opposite the house where the accident happened; that the house is about 450 feet north of 79th street; that when he had gone about 150 feet he saw appellant starting to cross the street, going from the west to the east; that he then blew his horn; that she was about 250 or 300 feet away from him at that time; that she kept on going; that he was on the right-hand side of the street and continued on; that about the time he got to her, she was past his machine — that is, when he was about 5 or 6 feet from her; that he blew his horn and “she jumped back to the west”; that he was going so slow he saw the bumper hit her; that he “jerked the wheel of his automobile to the west so that” he “wouldn’t run over her body”; that then one of his wheels ran against the west curb and hit the “lamp-post and it went over”; that the lamp-post is about 8 feet from the curb. On cross-examination he testified that after he crossed the tracks at 79th street he increased his speed from 8 miles to 12 miles in the 350 feet distance; that it was not the full speed of his car; that he might have picked up 16 or 17 miles; that when he saw appellant he was 350 feet away and was running about 18 miles an hour; that that was the first time he saw her; that she was by the curb in the street; that she stepped off the curb and started to walk across the street; that she was going as fast as she could — an ordinary walk; that when he hit her she had got past his machine; that she had possibly walked about 20 feet from the curb; that he blew his horn first when he was about 250 feet from her; that he blew it again when he was about 5 or 6 feet from her; that he blew it because he “didn’t know but what somebody might step out from the other machine ’ ’; that he was not traveling on the west side of the street and that he did not go up within a foot of the west curb; that when he blew his horn the last time he was possibly 10 feet from the east curb; that when he got up close to appellant he slowed down to about 10 or 12 miles an hour; that the lamp-post was an iron one and that it broke; that just one of his wheels was on the west curb; that the machine had to be lifted off of appellant.

After a careful consideration of' the evidence we are of the opinion that the verdict is manifestly against the weight of the evidence. In reaching this conclusion we have been influenced largely by appellee’s own testimony. His testimony is inherently improbable, inconsistent, and opposed to the physical facts. He testified that when he first saw appellant she was starting to cross the street from the west to the east side; that at that time he was about 250 or 300 feet away from her; and that he then blew his horn. It is evident, therefore, that he was fully aware of appellant’s presence and of her intention to cross the street when he was at a considerable distance from her. He also testified that there was nothing to obscure or obstruct his view as he was approaching her. The question naturally arises, how was it possible for him to strike her in the circumstances ? It seems most improbable that he could have done so. Without any further evidence it would appear that it could only have been done through carelessness on his part.

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Bluebook (online)
231 Ill. App. 84, 1923 Ill. App. LEXIS 150, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cohen-v-weinstein-illappct-1923.