Gish v. City of Los Angeles

181 Cal. App. 2d 86, 5 Cal. Rptr. 65, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 1964
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 19, 1960
DocketCiv. No. 24144
StatusPublished

This text of 181 Cal. App. 2d 86 (Gish v. City of Los Angeles) 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
Gish v. City of Los Angeles, 181 Cal. App. 2d 86, 5 Cal. Rptr. 65, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 1964 (Cal. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

WOOD, P. J.

This is an action for damages resulting from the collision of a police motorcycle and an automobile in an intersection of streets in Los Angeles. Plaintiff Clifford Gish was the operator of the automobile, and his wife plaintiff [88]*88Mabel Gish was a passenger therein. Harry Miller, a police officer of defendant city, was the operator of the motorcycle, and he was killed as a result of the collision. Mrs. Gish sought damages for personal injuries sustained by her as a result of the collision; and Mr. Gish sought damages for loss of services and companionship of Mrs. Gish as a result of her injuries. In a non jury trial, judgment was in favor of Mrs. Gish for $17,000 and in favor of Mr. Gish for $2,000. Defendant appeals from the judgment. Appellant contends that plaintiffs were guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law; the trial judge erred in giving plaintiffs the benefit of the presumption of due care; and that the judgment for $2,000 in favor of Clifford Gish is not supported by the evidence and is contrary to law.

The collision occurred in the intersection of Western Avenue and 89th Street. Western Avenue, which is 60 feet wide, extends northerly and southerly, and 89th Street, which is 36 feet wide, extends easterly and westerly. There is a double white line in the center of Western Avenue; and on each side of the double line, and about 10 feet therefrom, there is a single white line. There is an official traffic control signal at each of the four corners of the intersection. Western Avenue between 89th Street and 92d Street is in a business area, is well lighted, and is straight and level. The distance between 89th and 92d Streets is about 1,275 feet, and there is only one intersection between those streets—90th Street does not intersect Western.

On September 7,1956, about 10:30 p.m., Mr. Gish was driving his 1956 Chevrolet automobile in a southerly direction on Western, and Officer Miller was operating a police motorcycle in a northerly direction on Western. Mrs. Gish was in the automobile. When Mr. Gish was approaching the intersection of Western and 89th he was in the southbound traffic lane next to the double white line. At the intersection of Western and 89th, while Mr. Gish was turning the automobile to the left, intending to go east on 89th Street, the motorcycle struck the center of the front bumper of the automobile. The place in the intersection where the collision occurred was approximately 20 feet south of a prolongation of the north curbline of 89th Street and 17 feet west of a prolongation of the east curbline of Western Avenue.

Mr. Gish testified that when he was approaching 89th Street, and was a short block therefrom, he was traveling at a normal rate of speed, and he put on the directional signal of his [89]*89automobile and he “put out his hand”; as he approached 89th Street the “light was green” (for traffic on Western); he looked in the southerly direction to observe traffic on Western; he did not remember whether he had observed any traffic there, or whether he had heard a siren, or had seen lights “approaching”; his automobile just “barely turned” and was traveling between 5 and 10 miles an hour when it was struck by the motorcycle. He also testified that about three and a half hours before the collision he drank one beer; he is blind in his right eye; and the vision in his left eye is reasonably good.

Mrs. Gish testified that, as the automobile approached the intersection, Mr. Gish put on the directional lights of his automobile and put his hand out; before the automobile started to turn, she looked toward the south on Western; the closest car lights were about a block away; she did not see any red lights, and she did not hear any siren before the collision.

Mrs. Schu, a witness called by plaintiffs, testified that on said September 7, she was a passenger in an automobile which was driven by Mrs. Stack and was traveling in a westerly direction on 92d Street; the signal at the northeast corner of the intersection of Western and 92d Street was red for traffic on 92d Street, and the automobile stopped at the northeast corner of that intersection; two officers were on motorcycles which were “stopped” on 92d Street at the southwest corner of the intersection; while the signal light was red for traffic on 92d Street, one of the officers (who was on a motorcycle) “shot out of there and zoomed” north on Western; when the signal changed to “ go ” for traffic on 92d Street, the other officer went north on Western; when the officers started north, the red lights were not lighted on either motorcycle; the automobile in which she was riding turned right and followed the officers; when that automobile was a short distance north of 91st Street, she heard a “little bit of a siren. It didn’t get to a peak. It just went (indicating), then stopped.” (The period of time indicated by the witness, as timed by the trial judge, was less than half a second.) Mrs. Schu testified further that when she was near to the scene of the collision, she did not “see any red lights on” the motorcycles.

Mrs. Stack, called as a witness by plaintiffs, testified that she was driving the automobile in which Mrs. Schu was riding; when she first saw the officers, they were on motorcycles which were stopped at the southwest corner of 92d and Western, and white lights of the motorcycles were “on”; when the first [90]*90officer turned left on Western, he was “going quite fast, without his red lights or siren on ”; when her automobile had passed 91st Street and was about in the middle of the block north of that street, she heard a siren start up and “then just die down”; it “was just for a couple of seconds, very faint.” (The witness demonstrated with her voice the period of time she heard the siren. Counsel for plaintiffs then stated: “For the record, the sound she made was less than a couple of seconds, as she described a couple of seconds.” The trial judge said, “Oh, yes.”) Mrs. Stack testified further that at 89th Street, the white lights on the motorcycles were “on” but “no siren or red light was on. ’ ’

Mr. Daly, a witness called by plaintiffs, testified that on said September 7, 1956, about 10:30 p.m., he was back of a store on the southwest corner of 89th and Western; he heard a sound which was like a siren just starting; the sound continued about half a second.

Mr. Williams, a witness called by plaintiffs, testified that on said September 7 he was driving his automobile north on Western; when he crossed 92d Street, he saw two officers on that street; when he was near 91st, he looked in the mirror and saw the officers coming from 92d and going “down” Western; one motorcycle was about 25 feet behind the other; the headlights on the motorcycles were lighted; he did not see any red lights; he slowed down just before he came to the intersection where the accident happened; both motorcycles passed him; he did not “see any red lights on them”; he heard a siren a “split second” before the accident happened.

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Bluebook (online)
181 Cal. App. 2d 86, 5 Cal. Rptr. 65, 1960 Cal. App. LEXIS 1964, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gish-v-city-of-los-angeles-calctapp-1960.