Feeney v. Stieringer

162 F. Supp. 540, 1957 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2705
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 14, 1957
DocketC. A. Nos. 6195, 6296-6298, 6301
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 162 F. Supp. 540 (Feeney v. Stieringer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Feeney v. Stieringer, 162 F. Supp. 540, 1957 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2705 (W.D.N.Y. 1957).

Opinion

MORGAN, District Judge.

The above causes were consolidated by order of my predecessor, the late Honorable John Knight, on October 11, 1954, wherein it was ordered that the plaintiff in the first action above listed was to have the right to open and close. The issues were complicated; the trial began on April 24, 1956 and concluded May 4, 1956. Six attorneys actively participated.

The accident occurred in the State of Pennsylvania at the intersection ■of route U.S. 5, which at that point ran in a generally easterly and westerly direction, and route 89, which at that point ran in a generally northerly and southerly direction, near l^ortheast, Pennsylvania. Hence the substantive law of Pennsylvania prevailed. The requisites for the diversity of citizenship were present and it being tried in the Western District of New York, the adjective law of New York applied as well as the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A.

The plaintiff, Marie Magdalene Fee-ney, was not a passenger. Her husband, Arthur George Feeney, who was killed as a result of the accident, was driving a Pontiac automobile in a northerly direction on route 89. In the front passenger seat was his sister, Frances Feeney Colelori, plaintiff in action #2, and in the rear seat were the latter’s husband, Joseph A. Colelori, and their son, Richard E. Colelori, a minor. The automobile of the defendant, George Stieringer, whose estate was joined in actions #1, #2, #3, #4, #6 and #7, as defendants, and in the 5th action as plaintiff, was being operated in an easterly direction on U.S. 5. The defendant, Interstate Motor Freight System, owned a tractor trailer unit which was being driven in a westerly direction by its employee and driver, Carlus Leo Quigley.

There was considerable conflict in the testimony, but for the purposes of this decision, a general review will suffice. The testimony was that the Feeney car was proceeding north on route 89. Its speed was variously estimated from a stop prior to its entrance into route 5 in an easterly direction to 40 to 45 miles per hour. The point of intersection was at the low dip of two hills, or crests, one approximately one thousand feet westerly, and one approximately one thousand feet easterly of the intersection. The exact grade was not given, but it was described as rolling country. The Stieringer Chevrolet was proceeding easterly on a down slope and its speed was at all times stated to be over 50 miles per hour, and very fast. The Interstate Motor Freight System tractor trailer was proceeding westerly, also on a down grade, on the easterly crest above described, and its speed was variously estimated from Quigley’s statement of just releasing the brake to 30 to 40 miles per hour.

As the Stieringer car attempted to pass the Feeney car, a collision occurred about 50 feet easterly of the intersection of routes 89 and 5 when the right front of the Stieringer car collided with the left front of the Feeney automobile. The Feeney car was demolished. The Stier-inger ear was propelled into the air, flipped and landed upside down, with its top breaking the windshield of the Interstate Motor Freight System tractor trailer and resting on the hood of the tractor. Mr. and Mrs. Stieringer, the occupants of the Chevrolet, were instantly killed, Joseph A. Colelori and Richard E. Colelori were killed, Frances Feeney Colelori was seriously injured, although she gave normal birth to a baby girl on December 7, 1953.

Carlus Leo Quigley was rendered unconscious, his last recollection being that of turning toward the north shoulder of route 5. The Feeney Pontiac car skidded 104 feet, the tractor trailer 210 feet in an arc and carried the Chevrolet with it.

[543]*543The tractor trailer was a General Motors Corporation 1953 model, six months in service, and had been driven by Carlus Leo Quigley from the date of purchase to the time of the accident; it was in good mechanical condition, having been checked each month and bore a safety sticker at the time of the accident, indicating a test by the Safety Department of the defendant, Interstate Motor Freight System, and by the Interstate Commerce Commission. It had ten gears and was in fourth gear at low side at the easterly crest above described. Quigley testified that he noted other cars crossing route 5 on 89 after he “broke over the hill”, and, according to his testimony, the Stieringer ear was in his lane of traffic when he first saw the two cars side by side; the Stieringer car swerved south to get into its own lane. He applied his brakes, pulled toward the north shoulder of the road, saw the Stieringer car as it flipped in front of him, and that is the last he remembered.

The defendants, Interstate Motor Freight System and Carlus Leo Quigley, moved under Rule 50 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure for a judgment, notwithstanding the verdict, or in the alternative, for a new trial upon the ground that the verdicts were contrary to law, against the weight of evidence, and because of prejudicial errors and rulings made during the conduct of the lengthy trial.

The motion for a judgment, notwithstanding the verdict, is denied. Wilkerson v. McCarthy, 1947, 336 U.S. 53, 69 S.Ct. 413, 93 L.Ed. 497.

However, defendants’ alternative motion is based upon other considerations. The trial court may weigh the evidence, set aside a verdict and grant a new trial upon proper grounds, even though there was substantial evidence to prevent the direction of a verdict. Montgomery Ward & Co. v. Duncan, 311 U.S. 243, at page 251, 61 S.Ct. 189, 85 L.Ed. 147.

It is no answer to a motion for a new trial to cite cases such as Tennant v. Peoria & P. U. Ry. Co., 1944, 321 U.S. 29, 64 S.Ct. 409, 88 L.Ed. 520, as authority for the proposition that questions of fact are to be decided by the jury and the law by the court. That and similar cases deal with the power of the court to direct a verdict. The direction of a verdict finally, as a matter of law, substitutes the determination of the court on questions of fact for that of a jury. The granting of a motion for a new trial does not, but merely requires that another jury determine the facts, for reasons which in the interest of justice are compelling.

When a new trial is ordered, it should be done cautiously and prudently. It is proper and helpful to the party whose verdict is upset, for the court to point out specifically the reasons for the action of the court. Galloway v. United States, 319 U.S. 372, at page 411, 63 S.Ct. 1077, 87 L.Ed. 1458, and Montgomery Ward & Co. v. Duncan, 311 U.S. 243, at page 253, 61 S.Ct. 189, 85 L.Ed. 147.

It was urged that the court erred in permitting two attorneys to conduct the trial on behalf of one party, namely the Estate of Arthur George Feeney.

The original order consolidating all of the above actions contained no restrictions on counsel for the respective parties herein.

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Bluebook (online)
162 F. Supp. 540, 1957 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/feeney-v-stieringer-nywd-1957.