Danner v. Cooper

248 N.W. 223, 215 Iowa 1354
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedDecember 13, 1932
DocketNo. 41286.
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 248 N.W. 223 (Danner v. Cooper) 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
Danner v. Cooper, 248 N.W. 223, 215 Iowa 1354 (iowa 1932).

Opinion

Wagner, J.

— We deem it advisable to first visualize the salient facts relative to the manner in which the plaintiff received the injury. *1356 The accident occurred May 20, 1930, near the west boundary of the city of Shenandoah, on Sheridan avenue, which runs east and west. Extending west from Sheridan avenue, without the corporate limits of the city, is primary highway No. 3. Along the westerly limits of the city of Shenandoah is a north and south highway which crosses Sheridan avenue and highway No. 3; this north and south highway is not paved and is known in the record both as “Fremont Street” and “The County Line Road.” There are stop signs on Fremont street both to the north and south of the intersection. The pavement on highway No. 3 is 18 feet wide west of the center of the intersection, and from that point the pavement gradually widens, connecting with Sheridan avenue, upon which the pavement is 30 feet wide. The accident in which plaintiff received the injury occurred a short distance east of the intersection.

A ton and a half truck, owned by the defendant Cooper and driven by the defendant Bennett at the time in question, approached from the west. The driver of the truck, as he approached from the west, had a clear vision of the intersection for a distance of more than a quarter of a mile.

On the morning of the accident, the plaintiff and Josh Niel, another employee of the Henry Field Seed Company, while engaged within the scope of their employment, approached the intersection from the south on a hayrack placed on a wagon drawn by a team of horses driven by Niel. The team was stopped at the intersection and then turned to the east, entering Sheridan avenue. At the time of the accident, the team was traveling in an easterly direction upon Sheridan avenue, east of the intersection. The plaintiff testified that, as they (he and his coemployee) approached the intersection from the south, he was seated on the right-hand side of the hayrack, with his feet hanging out. The testimony of the plaintiff and a number of witnesses in his behalf, who saw the accident, is to the effect that, as the team was going east, the plaintiff was on the right side of the hayrack, with his feet hanging over, or close to the curb. This testimony is uncontradicted.

At the time in question, a car driven by Utterbach came from the north on Fremont street. All of the testimony offered in behalf of the plaintiff from a number of eye witnesses is to the effect that the Utterbach car was standing still at the time when the truck driven by Bennett collided therewith; that no portion of the Utterbach car was upon or protruded over the pavement at that time, *1357 but that the bumper was at the north line of - the pavement, or in close proximity thereto. As to this subject, the plaintiff testified:

“I saw the other car sitting on the north side of the street before we drove on the pavement. It was right up close to the pavement, but not on it.

“Q. How close was it to the pavement when you saw it? A. I couldn’t say, as only his bumper was up to the pavement, as close as it could get.

“Q. Was it one foot from the pavement or ten feet? A. Well, it could have been a foot, but it wasn’t no ten feet. I observed that when I went around the corner there on the hayrack.”

The truck approached and entered the intersection .from the west with considerable speed. One of plaintiff’s witnesses testified that when he first saw the truck coming it was running -40 or 50 miles an hour, and that it slowed up very little from that time until it hit. “I would say it was going 40 miles an hour when it hit the Utterbach car. I don’t think it slowed up much from the time it hit the Utterbach car until it hit the hayrack.” There is other testimony in the record to the same effect.

It is shown by the record that, as Bennett approached the intersection from the west, he turned the truck to the left and that the first collision was between the truck and the Utterbach car. This collision occurred between the front portion of the Utterbach car and the rear portion of the truck. The truck was carrying a spare tire in front of the left hind wheel, which protruded several inches from the body of the truck. It was this spare tire and left hind wheel of the truck which collided with the front portion of the Utterbach car.

The question of fact upon which Bennett and the witnesses for the plaintiff differ is as to whether or not the Utterbach car stood still or whether it was moving into the intersection at the time of the collision between the two cars. All of the witnesses to the accident, except Bennett, testified that the Utterbach car remained stationary at the north edge of the.paving. Bennett testified:

“As I entered the intersection, he (Utterbach) turned over to the left side of the pavement, probably from eighteen inches to twenty-four inches from the north side of the pavement. I saw the Utterbach car move as-we hit. It began to move just as I entered the intersection. I tried to swing my car to the right to try to miss *1358 and avoid the accident. He (Utterbach) was sitting almost in the center of the road (Fremont Street). I saw Mr. Utterbach’s car sitting there, and to pass the hayrack I pulled to the left side of the pavement. And just as I entered the intersection, Mr. Utterbach’s car started forward, and the right end of his car started forward, and the right end of his front bumper and the front fender hit the. spare tire and caught my left rear wheel, just as I turned to the right to avoid the accident, and that threw me across the street.”

The Utterbach car was shoved to the east side of Fremont street, facing east, or a little northeast. After the collision between the truck and the Utterbach car, the truck veered to the right and collided with the rear . end of the hayrack which was proceeding a short distance east of the intersection in an easterly direction upon the right-hand side of the paved street.

As the result of the collision between the truck and the hay-rack, plaintiff was thrown from the hayrack and injured. Plaintiff's evidence shows that for a period of five weeks he was not able to work at all, and that since said time his employer has given him elevator work and other work of a character lighter than that which he previously performed. There is testimony in the record from which the jury could properly find that the injury to plaintiff’s back and pelvis, resulting from the accident, is permanent. Upon trial of the issues, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of Si,825.

The appellants complain that the court erred in overruling their motion for a new trial based upon newly discovered evidence, which they claim is material and not merely cumulative or impeaching; and which they assert is admissible as admissions and declarations of the plaintiff, and that they could not with reasonable diligence have discovered the same and produced it at the trial, It is shown that the plaintiff, shortly after the injury, made claim for compensation under the Workmen’s Compensation Law (Code 1931, section 1361 et seq.), and that in the office of the industrial commissioner, in Des Moines, there is on file a memorandum of agreement signed by plaintiff and by an officer of his employer, which provides:

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Bluebook (online)
248 N.W. 223, 215 Iowa 1354, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/danner-v-cooper-iowa-1932.