Eccles v. Hoy

482 P.2d 720, 258 Or. 524, 1971 Ore. LEXIS 468
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 31, 1971
StatusPublished

This text of 482 P.2d 720 (Eccles v. Hoy) 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
Eccles v. Hoy, 482 P.2d 720, 258 Or. 524, 1971 Ore. LEXIS 468 (Or. 1971).

Opinion

TONGUE, J.

This is an action to recover damages for personal injuries resulting from a head-on automobile accident on a three-lane highway. Each party contended that the other was in the wrong lane. Plaintiff appeals from a verdict and judgment in favor of defendant.

All of plaintiff’s three assignments of error involve instructions to the jury. The first assignment is that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury that “a finding cannot be based upon evidence which is opposed to the physical facts.” In support of this assignment plaintiff contends that:

““When a head-on collision occurs and physical facts show that it occurred when defendant crossed into plaintiff’s lane of travel, the incontrovertible rule is that the plaintiff has made a prima facie case of negligence against the defendant, and this cannot be overcome by mere oral testimony but can be overcome only by evidence so conclusive ‘that no reasonable man could any longer engage in inferences’,” citing Gum, Adm. v. Wooge et al, 211 Or 149, 159, 315 P2d 119 (1957), and Van Zandt v. Goodman et al, 181 Or 80, 94, 179 P2d 724 (1947).

In Van Zandt, however, this court stated, at p 95:

“It is said that ‘the physical facts rule cannot come into play with respect to the position, speed, etc. of movable objects, if the facts relative to speed, position, etc., must be established by oral [526]*526evidence’ or ‘where it is necessary to make estimates or measurements, or to start with an assumption of the existence of a fact.’ ”

In Wills v. Petros et al, 225 Or 122, 357 P2d 394 (1960), a ease involving an automobile accident where the position of the ears in the intersection was important to the determination of the case and error was assigned for failure to give an instruction on the physical facts rule, this court also stated, at p 134:

“The situation of the two cars after the accident and the damage to the two automobiles were physical facts to which no oral contradictory evidence was offered, but the testimony relating to the point of impact was based solely on the testimony of police officer Hartford. His was an estimate predicated upon the location of certain debris in the street. We find no error under [this] assignment.”

Again, in Rich v. Cooper, 234 Or 300, 380 P2d 613 (1963), although not involving an automobile accident case, this court stated, at p 309:

“* * * The incontrovertible physical facts instruction is appropriate only where the facts relied upon conflict irreconcilably with the testimony of the witness. * *

As we read the record, the physical facts of this ease were not “incontrovertible” and did not “conflict irreconcilably” with all of the testimony.

The accident occurred on a three-lane highway between Portland and Lake Oswego. At the point of the accident there was a double yellow line separating the two southbound lanes from the single northbound lane. Plaintiff was driving south, while defendant was going north.

Plaintiff testified that he had been driving in [527]*527the “outside lane” of the three-lane highway at a speed of “maybe,” or “approximately,” 40 miles per hour and had then “swung out” into the “inside” lane and increased his speed to pass a car, when he met defendant’s ear “right there in front of me” in that lane of traffic.

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Related

Wills v. PETROS
357 P.2d 394 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1960)
Gum v. Wooge
315 P.2d 119 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1957)
Rich v. Cooper
380 P.2d 613 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1963)
Van Zandt v. Goodman
179 P.2d 724 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1947)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
482 P.2d 720, 258 Or. 524, 1971 Ore. LEXIS 468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eccles-v-hoy-or-1971.