Frazier v. Pokorny

349 P.2d 324, 1960 Wyo. LEXIS 52
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 9, 1960
Docket2902
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 349 P.2d 324 (Frazier v. Pokorny) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frazier v. Pokorny, 349 P.2d 324, 1960 Wyo. LEXIS 52 (Wyo. 1960).

Opinion

Chief Justice BLUME

delivered the opinion of the court.

Joseph Heyduk, one of the defendants in this case, and Clara Pokorny, plaintiff in this case, together with the latter’s husband, Henry Pokorny, were traveling from Minnesota to the Teton mountains on July 26, 1956. On that day they arrived in Cas-per about five o’clock in the afternoon and were directed to the Pine Lodge Motel in Mountain View directly west of Cas-per to stop for the night. The motel was located on the south of an intersection of Highway 20-26 going east and west and a graveled cross street running north and south, so that as Heyduk was traveling west it was necessary to make a left turn in order to go to the motel. (Witnesses and counsel refer to Heyduk’s movement as a left turn although it might be contended that he was really crossing the highway, but for the purposes of discussion here we think the distinction is not material.) The intersection is located in a business area on what is called a slight rise with a slight dip to the west and a slight dip to the east. The road was dry, the weather warm, and the vision from the intersection to the west was perfectly clear for a half mile or more. As Joseph Hey-duk was making the left turn at about 5 :30 p. m., his car and the car of Ferrin Richard Frazier, one of the defendants herein, collided, seriously injuring the plaintiff Clara Pokorny who was a guest in the car of Joseph Heyduk. As a result of the accident, she (using the description as given by counsel for plaintiff) suffered severe internal injuries, four separate breaks, fractures and lineal fractures of the pelvic bones, a broken fifth rib, injuries to her back requiring her to wear a brace even at the time of the trial, and diplopia or double vision which was partially corrected by her glasses. Plaintiff received one pint of plasma and six pints of whole blood necessitated by shock and loss of blood from internal bleeding. A catheter or tube was introduced into her urinary bladder which continuously drained grossly bloody urine for four days. Plaintiff’s legs were placed in continuous traction by use of a system of ropes and pulleys and a four or five pound weight attached to each leg. She was immobile for four and a half weeks. After five weeks plaintiff was removed on a stretcher from Natrona County Memorial Hospital and flown to her home in Minnesota. It was nine weeks after the accident before plaintiff could even sit next to her bed, and nine months before she could resume her household duties. Plaintiff’s doctor, medical and hospital bills were $3,138.23. She brought an action making Joseph Heyduk a defendant, alleging that he was guilty of gross negligence, and also in the same action sued Frazier, alleging that he was negligent in colliding with the car of Hey-duk. The case was tried to a jury. After the close of plaintiff’s testimony and again at the close of the whole case, defendant Frazier moved for an instruction to the jury to return a verdict in his favor. Both motions were overruled. After the return of the verdict, defendant moved for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. That motion, too, was overruled. The jury re *326 turned a verdict finding for both the plaintiff and the defendant Heyduk and against the defendant Frazier and assessing plaintiff’s damages in the sum of $13,138.23. Judgment was entered in accordance with the verdict and from that judgment the defendant Frazier has appealed to this court.

Defendant Heyduk testified in substance as follows: He is a mechanical engineer and lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is Mrs. Pokorny’s brother. He invited Henry Pokorny and Clara Pokorny, husband and wife, to go with him to the Teton mountains. They drove in Heyduk’s car, a two-door 1952 Ford sedan weighing about 3200 pounds. Plaintiff was riding in the back seat. They arrived in Casper about five o’clock in the afternoon of July 26, 1956, stopped at a gasoline station of the Standard Oil Company, asked for a place to stop for the night, and were told that the Pine Lodge Motel was a good place. The motel is located west of Casper in Mountain View and, in order to reach that from the main highway going east and west, it was necessary to cross that highway to the south. Pleyduk drove the car west along Highway 20-26, located the Pine Lodge Motel, and arrived at the intersection which led to the motel. A number of cars were following him and he pulled off for a few seconds to the right shoulder of the highway, that is to say, to the north. When the cars back of him had passed, he looked in the mirror, found no more cars coming from the east, and then looked to the west where he had clear vision. He saw no car coming toward him from the west at a distance of three to four hundred feet away and thought that he had plenty of time tp make the turn. He then signaled and made a left turn in low gear. Defendant Heyduk was asked:

“Q. Tell the Court and jury when you first saw the Frazier automobile? A. Well, when I was almost in the middle [of the east and west highway]. I looked again, as I usually do, and I seen this car [Frazier’s] bearing down on me. So it looked like a collision, so it was about, maybe 100 feet away, maybe a little more, and he was coming fast. * * * ”

At another place he estimated Frazier’s speed at 55 to 60 miles an hour but this testimony was struck, but his testimony that Frazier’s car was coming rapidly was permitted to stand. Heyduk himself was traveling very slowly and when he saw Frazier’s car he stopped. He was then about on the south edge of the oiled portion of the highway; the rear wheels of his car were then about on the center line of the highway and the rear end of the automobile approximately three feet from the center thereof. Frazier put on his brakes when he was about eighty feet away. He had ten feet plus the shoulder to go around the rear of Heyduk’s car. Heyduk could have gone on but, as Frazier was coming toward him at a rapid pace, “It looked like a hopeless case there, so I stopped, and I thought he’d go in back of me or in front of me.” Heyduk thought that Frazier could also have passed in front of his car. Frazier kept traveling straight east in the south lane and hit Hey-duk’s car practically in the center on the right side. Heyduk’s car was pushed back about ten feet and the back end swung around and went over to a steel sign of the Pine Lodge Motel, bending it, and the car was jammed under that sign. The car traveled in all about 100 feet after it was struck. Heyduk was thrown out of the car and was unconscious .for a little while. Mrs. Pokorny was knocked unconscious and did not regain consciousness until after she had been at Memorial Hospital for some time. Frazier asked Hey-duk, “Why did you stop ? ”

Henry Pokorny testified in substance as follows: He saw the Frazier car first when it was some 900 to 1,000 feet away. That car was then traveling at a speed of 60 to 65 miles an hour. There was a sign 490 feet west of the above-mentioned crossing which indicated the lawful speed to be 40 miles an hour. The witness next saw the Frazier car when it was 300 feet away and still coming at 60 to 65 miles per hour. *327 Frazier put on his brakes when he was 40 to SO feet away. The Heyduk car stopped. The rear wheels were approximately in the center of the oiled highway. When the Frazier car collided with Iieyduk’s car the left door of the Heyduk car flew open. Heyduk was thrown out and-bounced several times on the ground before stopping. The witness himself had three or four broken ribs.

William A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
349 P.2d 324, 1960 Wyo. LEXIS 52, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frazier-v-pokorny-wyo-1960.