Engle v. Nelson

263 N.W. 505, 220 Iowa 771
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedNovember 12, 1935
DocketNo. 43099.
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 263 N.W. 505 (Engle v. Nelson) 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
Engle v. Nelson, 263 N.W. 505, 220 Iowa 771 (iowa 1935).

Opinion

Anderson, J.

There is little dispute in the facts. Plaintiff’s decedent, Joseph Olson, was killed at about 7 o’clock p. m. on December 25, 1933, by an automobile driven by the defendant, G. F. Nelson. The accident occurred on the Lincoln Highway, United States No. 30, about twelve miles west of Cedar *773 Rapids, Iowa. A Mr. Foitle had driven his automobile off the highway into the ditch on the north side, and Joseph Olson, the decedent, who was employed by a garage in Cedar Rapids, was sent out in a service car for the purpose of towing the Foitle car back to Cedar Rapids. He was accompanied by Foitle, the owner of the disabled car, and one Albert Boyer, a friend of Olson’s. At the place of the accident the highway runs straight east and west, has an 18-foot pavement with a five or six foot shoulder on each side. Upon arriving at the scene of the wrecked car, the decedent backed his service car up to the rear of the Foitle car and pulled it on to the north half of the paving facing east towards Cedar Rapids. He then unhooked the service car, turned it around, and drove immediately in front of the disabled car. Both the disabled car and the service car had their headlights burning facing east. The disabled car was then raised by means of a crane on the service car, so that it could be towed back to town. This operation raised the disabled car so that its headlights threw its lights above and over the cab of the service car. During the time of these operations the deceased sent his companion, Albert Boyer, east on the highway with a large three-cell flash-light for the purpose of warning traffic approaching from the east. Boyer was from a block to a block and one-half east of the service car. The highway east from the place of the accident was straight and level for 700 or 800 feet and then there was a slight raise to the crest of the hill 500 or 600 feet farther east. The night was dark, cold, the wind was blowing, and there was some snow in the air and some snow on the edges of the pavement. After the service car had been attached to the disabled car and the deceased was ready to proceed, he called to Mr. Boyer to come back that he was ready to go. The deceased then passed around to the north side of the service car, and the evidence shows that he turned his back to the east and was in the apparent position of either warming his hands or lighting a cigarette. Mr. Foitle was just opposite the deceased on the south or rig'ht-hand side of the service car near its front door. Mr. Boyer started to walk west on the highway toward the service car when he was called and told they were ready to go. He had proceeded west to a point about 75 feet east of the front of the service car when he saw the rays of an automobile light coming over the crest of the hill about 1,400 feet to the east. He then started to run east on the highway to *774 wards tbe on-coming automobile and ran toward the on-coming car about 150 feet down the middle of the highway, waving his flash-light. It was then necessary for him to get off from the pavement to avoid being struck by the on-coming car. He testifies that the car passed him going at a speed of between 50 or 60 miles an hour and without slackening its speed continued west and turned to the right on the north shoulder of the highway striking and killing Mr. Olson, colliding with the disabled car at the rear of the service car, and proceeding west some distance, then turning completely around facing east. Mr. Foitle also testified that the on-coming ear, which was defendant’s Ford V 8, was traveling* more than 50 miles an hour and did not slacken its speed as it approached the service car. The south half of the pavement was open, and both Mr. Foitle and Mr. Boyer testify that there were no cars approaching from the west. The defendant, Nelson, testifies that he saw the lights of an approaching car a quarter or half mile west. The defendant himself testifies that he was an experienced driver, that he was driving an eight-cylinder Ford car, and that its top speed would vary between 83 and 85 miles per hour. Tie also said that he had his bright lights burning and that he could see a considerable distance ahead of his car, some 300 feet. He was making a drive from Burlington, Wisconsin, to Des Moines, Iowa, where he is manager of the Des Moines branch of the Ford Motor Company. He says that he first saw the lights of the service car as he came over the brow of the hill 1,200 or 1,400 feet east, and that he knew that the service ear was on the north half of the pavement. He says as he came down the hill after seeing the lights of the service car and knowing that it was on the north half of the road he applied his brakes and slowed down to about 35 miles an hour; that he saw the man. with the flash-light when he was about 10 feet from him; that he was standing in the center of the highway a little to the north of the black line. He also testified that when he saw Boyer with the flash-light he could have stopped his car before he reached the service car and collided with it, but that he did not intend to stop. He also testified that Mr. Olson, the deceased, was standing on the north side of his service car possibly a foot or a little closer to it. He said, “I know that I hit Mr. Olson.” Defendant also testifies that he knew the service car was stationary when he first saw it 1,200 feet away. It is manifest from the foregoing facts and the ad *775 missions of the defendant that he had full warning and knowledge of the presence of the service-car in ample time to prevent the accident, but disregarding the fact that the ear in front of his path was stationary, and disregarding the warning of the flash-lig-ht, he continued on his course and turned to the right of the service car so close to it that he nicked the front fender and struck and killed Mr. Olson, who was standing within a foot of his service car. With the record as above outlined, the case was submitted to the jury which returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $10,000. A motion for a new trial was overruled, and the defendant appeals.

There are fifteen assignments of error, some of which we will notice. Appellant’s first contention is that the decedent, Mr. Olson, was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law for the reason that he failed to comply with section 5067-el, C., ’35, with reference to “flares”. The enactment referred to provides that “motor trucks and combinations thereof operating on the highways” shall be equipped with portable flares which may be plainly visible for a distance of 500 feet, and that the operator of such “motor truck or combination” shall, upon bringing his vehicle to a stop upon or adjacent to the traveled portion of a highway during the period from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise, place a flare at the side of such vehicle. It also provides that a failure to do so shall be a misdemeanor.

The appellant contends that the service car of the deceased was a motortruck within the meaning of the above statute, and that the flash-light used on the night in question was not a compliance with the statute. The service car was hot a truck or a combination thereof. It was a Cadillac touring car with the rear part of the body removed and a wrecking crane installed therein. The only purpose of placing the so-called “flare” near such a vehicle would necessarily be to warn other travelers upon the highway of the presence of such vehicle.

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Bluebook (online)
263 N.W. 505, 220 Iowa 771, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/engle-v-nelson-iowa-1935.