Gist v. Allentown Wholesale Distributors, Inc.

20 Pa. D. & C.2d 76, 1959 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 385
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northampton County
DecidedMarch 4, 1959
Docketno. 71
StatusPublished

This text of 20 Pa. D. & C.2d 76 (Gist v. Allentown Wholesale Distributors, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Northampton County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gist v. Allentown Wholesale Distributors, Inc., 20 Pa. D. & C.2d 76, 1959 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 385 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1959).

Opinion

Woodring, J.,

— This is an action in trepass for damages from a collision between plaintiff’s automobile and defendant’s truck. The jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff and defendant has filed motions for a new trial and for judgment n. o. v.

In disposing of defendant’s motion for judgment n. o. v., we are required to consider and construe all the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to plaintiff.1 Plaintiff must be given the benefit of every fact and inference of fact which may reasonably be deduced from the evidence.2 Plaintiff is entitled to have the evidence supporting the verdict considered and all of the rest of the evidence rejected.3

When thus considered the testimony would support the following facts:

The accident happened on September 16, 1957, at approximately 4:45' p.m. Plaintiff operated a 1949 Ford sedan in an easterly direction on Legislative Route #39013, in Salisbury Township, Lehigh County. Defendant’s truck, operated by Lloyd Smith, defendant’s employe, then and there engaged in the scope of his employment, traveled in a westerly direction. The highway was crowned and had a macadam surface. The road was wet and it was raining or drizzling at the time of the accident. The highway is on a .steep hill with a descending grade from east to west. At or [78]*78near the top of the hill is a road sign, “Slippery When Wet”. Also, the descending hill was on a curve. Both drivers were familiar with the road and Smith testified that he knew that the highway was crowned and that its surface was slippery when wet.

Plaintiff first saw defendant’s truck as it came over the crest of the hill and around a curve. Plaintiff saw the truck veer to the south side of the highway, the eastbound lane in which plaintiff was traveling. Plaintiff pulled to his right and brought his car to a stop or almost to a stop. At that point defendant’s truck collided with the left side of plaintiff’s car and drove it into a cornfield about 30 feet south of the highway. Plaintiff testified that the truck was traveling between 50 and 60 miles per hour prior to the accident, as it descended the hill and approached plaintiff’s car. After the accident defendant’s truck continued westwardly a distance of about 100 feet where it struck a bank on the north side of the road.

Defendant’s motions raise the following questions:

1. Was there sufficient evidence of defendant’s negligence to submit to the jury?

2. Was the award of damages excessive?

3. Did the court err in refusing defendant’s request, made at the conclusion of the charge, for instructions concerning contributory negligence?

1. Sufficiency of Evidence

Defendant argues that plaintiff’s case included the fact that defendant’s truck skidded, that mere proof of skidding is not proof of negligence and that therefore plaintiff proved no negligence for submission to the jury.

It is true that the mere happening of an accident is not proof of negligence,4 but the presence of an [79]*79automobile on the wrong side of the highway is prima facie proof of negligence.5 Again, the mere proof of skidding is not proof of negligence.6 A motorist is excused from the charge of negligence when his vehicle goes to the left side of the road solely because of a skidding for which he is not to blame.7 While skidding, in and of itself, is not negligence, it frequently is the result of negligence.8 Where plaintiff’s case establishes that the accident resulted from the skidding of defendant’s vehicle, plaintiff must prove that such skidding resulted from defendant’s negligence.9

If plaintiff’s testimony was limited to the fact that defendant’s truck skidded to the left side of the highway, defendant’s motion would have to be granted. In our opinion, however, plaintiff has established many other facts and circumstances which had to be submitted to the jury. The rainy day, the wet macadam surface, the crowned road, the steep hill, the curve on the hill, the “Slippery When Wet” sign at the top of the hill, the size and nature of defendant’s truck, crossing the brow of the hill at 25 to 30 miles per hour, the driver’s knowledge of and familiarity with the road conditions, the relative positions of the vehicles after the accident and the nature and extent of the damage to the vehicles are all facts from which the jury could determine the manner in which defendant’s truck was operated at the time of the accident. If the truck was [80]*80operated carefully and it suddenly skidded from some unknown or unexpected source, there could be no liability on defendant. On the other hand, defendant knew of the condition of the highway and owed a duty to plaintiff to operate the truck -in a careful and prudent manner so that it would not go out of control and collide with plaintiff’s automobile. These questions were clearly for the jury and. we are bound by the jury’s determination that defendant’s truck was operated in a negligent manner. In Davin v. Levin, supra, page 556, Judge O’Toole’s opinion, affirmed per curiam, contains:

“. . . in [operating his truck] he is required to consider the wet and slippery condition of the adjacent asphalt pavement.”

In the case of Miles v. Myers, supra, the late Chief Justice Maxey quoted from Fitzpatrick v. Pralon Cleaners and Dyers, 129 Pa. Superior Ct. 437, 441, 195 Atl. 644:

“The jury had a right to consider the nature and course of the skidding, the absence of chains, the condition of the pavement, the speed of the truck, the manner in which the truck was operated, and the nature of the intersection. The question of the negligence of the driver of the truck was clearly for the jury under the circumstances detailed.”

In Mulheirn v. Brown, 322 Pa. 171, 177, 185 Atl. 304, Mr. Justice Stern, later Chief Justice, said:

“He [defendant] sought to excuse the occurrence by contending that the condition of the roadway caused his car to skid, but whether such an explanation sufficiently exculpated him was for the jury. The condition of the roadway was obvious to him and he was bound to have it in contemplation in operating his car.”

In Griffith v. V. A. Simrell & Son Co., 304 Pa. 165, 169, 155 Atl. 299, Mr. Justice Schaffer said:

[81]*81“There [Simpson v. Jones, 284 Pa. 596] the plaintiffs were guests in the defendant’s automobile and the skidding of the car was due to something unknown and unexplained while here it is manifest that the skidding was occasioned by the slippery condition of the roadway.”

In Laessig v. Cerro, supra, page 158, Judge Baldridge’s opinion contains:

“We agree with the following language of the learned court below: Tn the instant case we have more than a mere skidding proved. We also have proof and an agreement that the icy condition which caused the skidding of defendant’s car was not an exceptional or isolated condition, but on the contrary, it was a condition which existed over the entire highway in the entire vicinity of the accident.

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Laessig v. Cerro
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Matzasoszki v. Jacobson (Et Al.)
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Fitzpatrick v. Pralon Cleaners & Dyers
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Wilson v. Pennsylvania Railroad
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Bluebook (online)
20 Pa. D. & C.2d 76, 1959 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 385, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gist-v-allentown-wholesale-distributors-inc-pactcomplnortha-1959.