Grimes v. Richfield Oil Co.

289 P. 245, 106 Cal. App. 416, 1930 Cal. App. LEXIS 710
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 12, 1930
DocketDocket No. 134.
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 289 P. 245 (Grimes v. Richfield Oil Co.) 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
Grimes v. Richfield Oil Co., 289 P. 245, 106 Cal. App. 416, 1930 Cal. App. LEXIS 710 (Cal. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

AMES, J., pro tem.

This is an action for personal injury. The negligence upon which the action is predicated, as disclosed by the allegations in the complaint and the evidence in support thereof, consists of defendant’s failure to maintain lights upon the rear end of a combination of vehicles, consisting of a truck and trailer, which, it is claimed, was standing on the paved or improved portion of a public highway before sunrise, during the early morning hours of the day of the accident.

The testimony of the respondent may be summarized as follows: That on the fifteenth day of March, 1928, he was driving and operating an 8-cylinder V-type motor Peerless touring car on the state highway between Bakersfield and Los Angeles; his headlights had recently been adjusted and conformed to all provisions of the California Vehicle Act; that he could discern any substantial object on the highway *419 ahead of him at a distance of 200 feet; his brakes had recently been adjusted, and were in good working order; shortly before the accident occurred he had been driving his ear at a lawful rate of speed and at no time in excess of 40 miles per hour. At the hour of about 5 -.15 A. M., and while it was still dark, he collided with the overhang of a load of oil-well machinery, which extended beyond the rear end of the trailer. The truck and trailer were standing on the paved portion of the highway, close to the center line. There was no red light, nor any light visible to him from the rear of the truck or trailer. When he first saw the truck and trailer, he was between 50 feet and 100 feet from the rear end thereof, and too close to stop with safety. He testified that these vehicles were not moving when he first saw them. As soon as the appellant’s vehicles were seen by him, he applied his brakes vigorously; that he thought he saw some objects on the highway to the left of the truck and trailer, but whether or not the objects which he thought he observed were persons standing on the highway, or were merely shadows, he was unable to say, but under the stress of immediate danger, he attempted to pass to the right of the trailer, but in attempting to do so, collided with its projecting load, and, to quote his own testimony, he described this contact as follows:

“I struck some projected load that wiped the cowl and instrument board off the car and continued against my chest and pressed me against the back' of the seat and crushed the front seat out and turned me bottom side up in the tonneau, tearing my legs open on the cushion in the tonneau, in the rear seat and crushing them and turned the back of the tonneau and then what seemed to be the upper corner of the truck ripped the fender off and torn through the side and damaged that and my ear swerved by reason of the impact and locked with the rear of the truck which came to a full stop.”

He further testified that between the time when he first observed the truck upon the highway and his impact with the trailer, about two seconds had elapsed, during which time he was able to distinguish the projecting ■ portion of the load upon the trailer, and during that period observed that the truck was standing still. He testified as to the character of his injuries as follows:

*420 “Nose and .cheek hone broken, upper jaw broken and section torn out with teeth broken, antrum, I think they call it, part of the bone stock beneath the upper jaw-bone; a gash through the upper lip, and whatever it was passed through there and tore out the jaw-bone; roof of my mouth was crushed clear to the palate, the left shoulder was badly fractured, the left arm fractured in numerous places, just about two or two and a half inches.”

On cross-examination, he attributed his failure to see the truck to a change of gradient in the highway, and in his further description of the accident, used the following language:

“I am quite, very sure what carried away the back of the seat carried away the cowl and struck me against the chest and the back and tore out the part of the tonneau and seat, was part of the projecting load.”

After testifying that the only opportunity he had to observe the load on the truck was the period of two seconds which elapsed between the time when he first saw the trailer and his impact with its overhanging load, in answer to the following question: “You noticed the overhanging load on the trailer in that brief space of time?” he testified as follows: “Yes, after I started to turn with a big bar right in front of me.”

It was stipulated by counsel at the trial that the paved portion of the highway at the point of the accident was 22 feet wide, and that there was room enough on the right-hand side of the pavement to have stopped and parked the truck and trailer off the pavement.

He further testified that he reached the conclusion that the appellants’ vehicles were standing still, rather than moving, not only by reason of his observation of the trailer upon the highway, but for the further reason that he did not hear “the barking of the motor,” which he contends he would have heard had the motor been in operation, drawing its heavy burden upon an upward grade.

On cross-examination appellants attempted to impeach the testimony of respondent on the issue that the truck was standing still, by reading into the record a portion of a deposition of respondent, in which he testified with respect to the appellants’ vehicles: “I don’t think they were traveling; if they were it was very, very slowly, but I got the *421 impression that they were standing; they might have been creeping along, but I remember not having observed the exhaust or barking report of the motor.” The respondent called the driver of the truck as an adverse witness under the provisions of section 2055 of the Code of Civil Procedure, who testified that at the time of the accident the truck was traveling at the rate of two and one-half to three miles per hour. It is not disputed that the accident happened before sunrise and while it was still dark.

At the conclusion of the plaintiff’s case defendants Ott and Richfield Oil Company of California moved for a non-suit as to defendant Ott upon the ground “that there is no evidence at all showing, or tending to show, that Ott is in any manner concerned in the accident at all,” and as to defendant Richfield Oil Company of California upon the following grounds:

“ (1) That there is no evidence to establish the charge in the complaint that the defendant negligently, carelessly and without regard to the welfare or safety of others then and there stopped and parked his truck and trailer in the paved, improved portion of the said highway without any rear or tail-light. (2) That there is no evidence to sustain the remaining charge of negligence as follows: ‘and negligently and carelessly and without regard to the welfare or safety of other persons then and there permitted said truck and trailer to stand on said public highway loaded with material that extended a distance of more than four feet beyond the rear and/or end of said vehicle without displaying at the extreme end of said load a red light or any light whatsoever’ and further (3) on the ground of contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff appearing conclusively as a matter of law.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
289 P. 245, 106 Cal. App. 416, 1930 Cal. App. LEXIS 710, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grimes-v-richfield-oil-co-calctapp-1930.