Goetz v. Burgess

238 P.2d 444, 72 Idaho 186, 1951 Ida. LEXIS 238
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 3, 1951
Docket7682
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 238 P.2d 444 (Goetz v. Burgess) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goetz v. Burgess, 238 P.2d 444, 72 Idaho 186, 1951 Ida. LEXIS 238 (Idaho 1951).

Opinions

PORTER, Justice.

This action arises out of an automobile accident which occurred on State Highway No. 95 about two miles north of Moscow, Latah County, on November 2, 1947, at approximately 12:25 A.M. Appellant, Lenore Goetz, was riding in a 1941 Chevrolet automobile owned and driven by Charles Goetz, Jr., son of appellants. A collision occurred ¡between the Goetz car and a 1941 Ford Pickup truck owned and driven by respondent. Appellant, Lenore Goetz, suffered personal injuries and this action in damages was brought to recover for such injuries, for medical expenses and for damages to clothing.

By their complaint, appellants alleged the accident was the result of the negligence of respondent in driving his truck on the left-hand side of the highway and in the lane of traffic of the Goetz car. By his answer, respondent denied any negligence on his part and denied that he was. driving on the wrong side of the highway. As affirmative defenses, he alleged negligence on the part of the driver of the Goetz car, contributory negligence on the part of appellant, Lenore Goetz, and negligence on the part of Charles Goetz, Jr.,, imputable to appellant, Lenore Goetz, in that they were engaged in a joint venture at the time of the accident. The cause came on regularly for trial before a jury which returned a verdict in favor of respondent. Judgment was entered in accordance with the verdict. Appellants; moved for a new trial which motion was. denied by the court. Appellants have appealed to this court from the judgment and from the order denying the motion for new trial.

At the time in question, Charles Goetz, Jr., was an unmarried man, residing at the home of his parents. He was engaged! in farming in partnership with his father and one other. His automobile was included in a blanket insurance policy covering the motor vehicles used in connection with the farming operations.

On the afternoon of November 1, 1947,, Charles Goetz, Jr., took his mother to. Moscow, at her request, where she did! some shopping and had dinner with a friend. He went back to the farm, did the evening chores, then returned to Moscow and attended a show. He called for his. mother about midnight and they were re[189]*189turning home on State Highway No. 95 when the collision occurred.

State Highway No. 95 at the scene of the accident runs generally north and south, is surfaced with black top 26 feet in width and has a yellow line down the center of the highway. On the night in question it had been raining and the black top was wet.

The Goetz car was traveling in a northerly direction at a speed of approximately 45 miles per hour. As it came over a rise in the highway, the occupants of the Goetz car observed respondent’s truck approaching from the north at a distance of about 400 yards. There is a gradual curve in the highway between the points where the cars were then located and as the cars approached each other it appeared to the occupants of the Goetz car that respondent’s truck was traveling on the wrong side of the highway. Mrs. Goetz said to her son, “That car is on our side of the road.” She did not suggest that he stop the car or turn out to the right hand side of the road and did not say anything more to him “because I was afraid I would confuse him with him trying to avoid a collision.”

Charles Goetz, Jr., testified that he dimmed his lights, slowed down his car to 15 or 20 miles per hour and that as the cars approached each other the respondent’s truck was on the wrong side of the highway. That he turned to the left, that respondent turned to his right, then both turned back, and this maneuver was repeated two or three times. That finally he speeded up the Goetz car, turned it to the left and attempted to pass on the left side of respondent’s truck. The front end of respondent’s truck, on the right side thereof, came in collision with the right front door of the Goetz car. The collision occurred on the west side of the yellow line-of the highway and in the lane of traffic: of respondent’s truck.

Respondent testified he was living at the-home of Mr. Rogers located just north of the scene of the accident. That he drove-on to the highway from the Rogers’ place-on his way to work in Moscow. That he-was driving his pickup in second gear at a speed of about 15 miles per hour. That he was driving on the extreme right-hand side of the black top and at no time drove-in the lane of traffic of the Goetz car.

It is suggested in the testimony that when the two cars first - came in view of each other, due to the curve in the highway, it might erroneously appear to the occupants of the Goetz car that respondent’s truck was being driven on the wrong side of the highway.

The assignments of error by appellants-are numerous, subdivided and, to a degree, repetitious. We will not consider each assignment separately but will consider the material questions raised.

Appellants contend the trial court erred in denying their motion for new [190]*190trial based on the ground of misconduct of a witness and a juror. Both attorneys for appellants filed affidavits to the effect that they saw a juror talking with a witness for respondent in the courtroom while the jury was excused from attendance and at a time when appellants were about to make a motion for directed verdict. Charles Goetz, Jr., and Charles Goetz, Sr., made affidavits that they saw the same juror talking with the same witness upon two or three occasions during the course of the trial. The affidavit of Charles Goetz, Jr., also shows. that he saw such juror during an intermission, in conversation with an insurance man who it is alleged carried insurance on respondent’s pickup. There is no showing whatever that the juror was talking to the other parties to the conversations about anything connected with the case on trial. Furthermore, the fact of these conversations was known to appellants and their attorneys prior to the submission of the case to the jury. No motion for a mistrial was made or the court otherwise asked to consider the matter. If appellants considered such matters prejudicial they should have been presented to the court prior to the submission of the case to the jury; instead, they sought a verdict and thereby waived the claim of misconduct. In Wagner v. McKernan, 198 Old. 425, 177 P.2d 511, at page 514, it is said: “Plaintiff sets out an affidavit filed in connection with his motion for new trial, stating certain alleged misconduct of defendant in talking to some of the jurors while the case was being tried. Plaintiff said nothing about the matter at the time. If the matters complained of were prejudicial, they should have been presented at the time. Instead, a verdict was sought. The claim of misconduct was waived under the rule in Harris v. Boggess, 124 Okl. 251, 255 P. 685.”

Instruction No. 9 and Instruction No. 10 given by the court were as follows:

“Instruction No. 9
“You are instructed that Section 49-511, I.C., provides: ‘Meeting of vehicles.— Drivers of vehicles proceeding in opposite directions shall pass each other to the right, each giving to the other at least one-half of the main traveled portion of the roadway as nearly as possible.’ ”
“Instruction No. 10
“You are instructed that the law of this state requires drivers of vehicles proceeding in opposite directions to pass each other to the right, each giving to the other at least one-half of the main travelled portion of the roadway as nearly as possible.

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Goetz v. Burgess
238 P.2d 444 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1951)

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Bluebook (online)
238 P.2d 444, 72 Idaho 186, 1951 Ida. LEXIS 238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goetz-v-burgess-idaho-1951.