Ford v. Dahl

228 S.W.2d 800, 360 Mo. 437, 1950 Mo. LEXIS 605
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMarch 13, 1950
DocketNo. 41404
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 228 S.W.2d 800 (Ford v. Dahl) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ford v. Dahl, 228 S.W.2d 800, 360 Mo. 437, 1950 Mo. LEXIS 605 (Mo. 1950).

Opinion

LOZIER, C.

This is an appeal from a judgment entered in an action for damages resulting from a collision between appellant’s car, and respondent’s truck on U. S. Route 69, north of Excelsior Springs, October 11, 1946. Plaintiff asked $15,000 for personal injuries and $500 for damage to his car. Defendant counterclaimed for $350 for damage to his truck. Verdict and judgment were for defendant on plaintiff’s claim and for defendant for $275 on the counterclaim.- Plaintiff’s motion for new trial was overruled as to the judgment on plaintiff’s cause of action and plaintiff appealed.

The highway runs northeast-southwest, but we shall consider it as running east and west. It -slopes down from a hill crest about 700 feet north of, and is both straight and level (i. e., without horizontal curves) at, the collision point. The . pavement is 30 feet wide, with three 10-foot travel lanes. The highway traffic is heavy, both day and night. On the south side is a filling station and on the north side, opposite the station, is. a lane leading to a sales barn. The day was fair and the pavement was dry.

The collision occurred about 12:40 p.m. Plaintiff, unaccompanied, was driving his car north across the pavement. Defendant, accompanied by W. R. Reed, his business partner, was driving west in the north travel lane.

Plaintiff testified that, prior to starting across the pavement, he looked both ways and saw no traffic; that he could see 400 or [440]*440500 feet to the east; that he started across at 3 or 4 miles per hour and, while crossing, increased this speed to perhaps 5 miles per hour; that the collision occurred when his car was about halfway off the pavement; that no horn was sounded; and that he first saw the truck when it was 3 or 4 feet away.

Plaintiff’s evidence was that the truck, if moving at 35 miles per hour, could have been stopped within 65 to 70 feet, and, if moving at 30 miles per hour, within 55 to 60 feet, both estimates including “reaction time” of the driver'.

Defendant testified that he was driving west about 35 miles per hour; that when he first saw the car its front wheels were just across the south edge of the pavement and that the truck was about 75 feet away; that plaintiff was driving about 8 or 9 miles per.hour and slowed slightly just as he crossed the middle of the pavement; that immediately upon seeing plaintiff’s car, he (defendant) sounded his horn and applied his foot brake, full force; that such force became fully effective when the truck was about 8 or 9 feet from the car; that there was another truck coming east in the center travel lane which he saw when it was about as far west of plaintiff as he was east; that he could not, and did not, swerve to the left and drive behind the car because of this other truck; that the other truck did not stop; that he skidded 8 or 10 feet and that the right wheels of his truck were off the pavement when the collision occurred; that his brakes were in good condition and that several weeks before he had had them adjusted and tightened; that he did not use the handbrake and had no recollection of Reed shouting anything or grabbing the handbrake; and that he did not know the number of feet required within which to stop his truck.

W. P. Reed testified that the truck was traveling about 30 miles per hour and that there was another truck coming east; that when he first saw plaintiff’s car the defendant’s truck was about 75 feet away; that he thought the car stopped while crossing the pavement ; that defendant applied the brakes and blew his horn; that he (Reed) grabbed the handbreak but “it was on,” as defendant had already put on the brakes by applying- the ’foot brake; that he “hollered, ‘Look out!’ and that time we struck”; and that the other truck passed them at the time of the impact and continued east.

The only other witness who saw the collision was Robert Melling. Newton Mallott, Marshall Williams and Warren Bivens heard it. Mallott testified that he was at the station and saw plaintiff back up his car prior to turning; that he (Mallott) looked up and down the highway, observed no traffic either way, walked across the highway and up the barn lane, heard a screeching of brakes and, “before I could look around I heard the crash”; that he heard no horn sounded; that after he had turned around he saw no eastbound traffic [441]*441going by, but that he did not look especially as his attention was on plaintiff’s car.

Williams testified, that he was in the barn lane and heard the crash. Bivens, operator of the filling station, testified that he was inside the station, and saw plaintiff back up and turn; that from plaintiff’s speed he judged that the car was in low gear when he startéd forward; that plaintiff then “took out across the highway”; and that he (Bivens) did not see the collision but heard the crash.

Robert Melling testified that he was on the south side of the highway; that he first observed the car just as it was going on the pavement, moving about 4 or 5 miles per hour; that plaintiff did not stop before driving on the pavement; that he first saw the truck when the car was in the middle of the pavement, and that the truck was then about 250 or 300 feet east of the barn lane and was then going about 35 miles per hour; that plaintiff did not stop while crossing the pavement; that the car was going about 5 miles per hour and was about 6 feet off the pavement when it was struck; that defendant did not sound his horn and “didn’t seem to ‘break’ speed”; that he (Melling) did not hear the screech of the truck’s brakes immediately before the collision; and that there was no eastbound traffic.

Appellant’s first assignment relates to the admission in evidence of defendant’s Exhibit 'C. This was a statement apparently made and signed by Melling on October 15, 1946, four days after the accident. It contained both statements of fact and opinions. The contradictory statements of fact and the opinions (the latter italicized by us) were: “I heard an approaching westbound (truck) sound his horn just as (the ear) started to cross. Then I heard his brakes screech and suddenly on looking more to the left I saw the John Ford car going north across the slab directly in the path of the oncoming truck. * * * I didn’t see the John Ford car until it'was already on the slab. * * * The truck was. only about 30 to 35 feet east of the John Ford ear when he sounded his horn. The truck driver veered to the right to a point where his right wheels were off the slab and then, seeing that the John Ford car was still going on, he cut back to the left to try and go around the rear, but an eastbound truck blocked him and there was nothing for him to clo hut to hit the John Ford car on the center of its right side. * * The eastbound truck did not stop. * * * The truck driver did everything he could to avoid the accident. Ford pulled directly across the slab from south to north and it appears to me that he was solely to hlame for the accident. The truck driver had sounded his horn, cut to the right, cut to the left and applied his brakes. There was nothing else he could do. I would estimate the speed of the truck when I [442]*442first saw it when it sounded his horn at about 28 to 30 miles per hour. ’ ’

Upon cross-examination, Melling read over the statement. He was then asked if he desired to change his testimony about “the sounding of the horn and screeching of the brakes, or about another vehicle of some kind going” east.

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Bluebook (online)
228 S.W.2d 800, 360 Mo. 437, 1950 Mo. LEXIS 605, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ford-v-dahl-mo-1950.