Flury v. Beeskau

33 P.2d 1033, 139 Cal. App. 398, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 509
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 22, 1934
DocketCiv. No. 5079
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 33 P.2d 1033 (Flury v. Beeskau) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Flury v. Beeskau, 33 P.2d 1033, 139 Cal. App. 398, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 509 (Cal. Ct. App. 1934).

Opinion

THOMPSON, J.

The defendants have appealed from a judgment rendered pursuant to the verdict of a jury, for damages for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff as the result of a collision which occurred at the intersection of two streets in the city of Stockton, between the defendants’ truck and the plaintiff’s bicycle while the latter was attempting to make a left turn.

El Dorado and Channel Streets intersect at a right angle in the business portion of Stockton. El Dorado Street extends north and south and is 56 feet in width with two parallel street-car tracks along the center thereof. Channel Street extends east and west and is 40 feet in width east of El Dorado. The curbing which marks the northerly boundary of Channel Street extends along a straight line both east and west of El Dorado, but the southerly curbing of Channel Street, west of El Dorado, is 66 feet farther south than that line of Channel Street as it exists east of El Dorado. In other words, Channel Street is 106 feet in width west of El Dorado Street to the waterfront.

The testimony is conflicting, but there is ample evidence to support the following’ facts: At 5:30 P. M. on October 25, 1932, the plaintiff was riding a bicycle northerly along the proper side of El Dorado Street with the purpose of going to the fish market near the waterfront on Channel Street. It was daylight and the atmosphere was clear. The bicycle was equipped with a coasting .brake which was in good condition for use. There was some traffic on these streets at that time. When the plaintiff reached a point [401]*401about 60 feet south of Channel Street he pulled his bicycle over to a course adjacent to the nearest rail of the streetcar track. He observed the defendant’s Ford truck coming south on El Dorado Street. It was being driven by the young man, Beeskau, who is also a defendant in this action. The truck was then about a block north of Channel Street. The plaintiff reached the intersection of the streets before the defendants’ truck entered that space. Beeskau saw the bicycle approaching when it was 120 feet south of Channel Street. Before reaching the intersection, the plaintiff extended his left arm indicating his intention to make a left turn at that point. The bicycle was running at the rate of about six miles an hour. After passing the intersecting point of the streets, Flury turned his bicycle to the left and reached a point midway between the two parallel streetcar tracks when he saw the defendants’ truck only about 10 feet away running at the rate of about 25 or 30 miles an hour and following a course near the center of the street with its left wheels about the middle of the westerly streetcar track. Although the truck driver had seen the bicycle coming north at a point 120 feet south of Channel Street and his vision was not obscured by intervening traffic, he neither watched the plaintiff nor observed his signal for a left turn. He admitted that he was running “pretty fast”. He was only 10 feet away from the bicycle when he saw it headed across his pathway. A collision appeared to be imminent. The plaintiff pulled his bicycle abruptly to the left and Beeskau turned the truck right to avoid the collision. The two machines struck at a point just back of the left front wheel of the truck. They collided at a point a few feet north and west of the intersecting point of the two streets, about 15 or 18 feet south of the northerly line of Channel Street. The plaintiff was thrown from his bicycle, which was demolished. He was seriously injured as a result of the accident. He was picked up unconscious and taken to a •hospital for treatment. Beeskau testified that he did not notice the plaintiff after he first observed him 120 feet south of Channel Street until he suddenly saw his bicycle about ten feet away headed directly across his pathway. He was looking for the approach of other machines as he entered the intersection of the streets and failed to observe the plaintiff’s signal for a left turn or the change in the course [402]*402of bis vehicle. He promptly stepped on the foot-brake and turned his truck to the right. He said: “We both came together,- — he came into me and I went into him. . . . When I hit the bicycle it threw me out of the seat and my foot off the pedal and my hand off the wheel and I could not do any more. ’ ’ His truck turned slightly toward the west, then swerved back in a southeasterly direction, overturning on the easterly street-car track 40 or 50 feet south of the point of collision. Beeskau was uninjured. In this suit for damages a verdict of $7,500 and costs was returned against both the owner and the operator of the truck. Judgment was rendered accordingly. From the judgment the defendants have appealed.

It is conceded the evidence supports the implied finding that the defendants were guilty of negligence which resulted in the accident. A reversal of the judgment is, however, sought on the grounds that the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence evidenced by the alleged fact that his bicycle ran into the side of the truck; that the court erred in permitting the introduction of evidence over appellants’ objection of an experiment which was conducted with the truck one day after the accident occurred, showing that the brake was then defective, without preliminary proof that the automobile was then in the same condition that it was at the time of the accident; that the court erred in modifying and refusing to give to the jury certain instructions which were offered by the defendants, and that the damages which were awarded are excessive.

We are of the opinion the evidence amply supports the implied finding that the plaintiff was not guilty of contributory negligence. That was a matter for the determination of the jury. There was some traffic at the intersection of the streets where the accident occurred. The plaintiff ran his bicycle over and along the easterly rail of the streetcar track for a distance of 50 or 60 feet before he reached the intersecting point where he proposed to turn west. He' properly extended his left arm as a signal for his intended left turn as required by the provisions of section 130 of the California Vehicle Act. Beeskau failed to see the signal. The plaintiff’s bicycle passed to the right around the central intersecting point of the streets in his effort to make a left turn as provided by section 129 of the last-mentioned [403]*403act. The plaintiff looked in every direction for approaching machines before he attempted to make the turn. He saw the defendants’ truck half a block away and reasonably anticipated he would have ample time to cross the street. The plaintiff had a right to anticipate he would be given the right of-way, since he approached the turn before the truck entered the intersection, and that the driver of the truck would reduce his rate of speed to conform to the law before he crossed the intersection of the streets. There is substantial evidence that the plaintiff was entitled to the right of way for the purpose of making the left turn ahead of the truck pursuant to the rule prescribed by section 131 of the California Vehicle Act, which provides in part:

“Sec. 131. (a) The driver of a vehicle approaching an intersection shall yield the right of way to a vehicle which has entered the intersection. ...

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Bluebook (online)
33 P.2d 1033, 139 Cal. App. 398, 1934 Cal. App. LEXIS 509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/flury-v-beeskau-calctapp-1934.