James v. Krebek

7 N.W.2d 637, 142 Neb. 757, 1943 Neb. LEXIS 10
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 22, 1943
DocketNo. 31198
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 7 N.W.2d 637 (James v. Krebek) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
James v. Krebek, 7 N.W.2d 637, 142 Neb. 757, 1943 Neb. LEXIS 10 (Neb. 1943).

Opinions

Messmore, J.

This case is before us on rehearing. Former opinion is reported in 141 Neb. 73, 2 N. W. (2d) 629.

The mother and next friend brought this action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by her son, a minor, 19 years of age, in an automobile collision on a public highway between two automobiles driven by defendants while he was a gratuitous guest in one of the cars.

Plaintiff’s petition alleg-es that his injuries were caused by the negligence of the defendants approximately concurrent in time and each contributing to his injuries; that defendant Wright, the driver of the car in which plaintiff was riding, was guilty of gross negligence in not having- his automobile under control, in not keeping a proper lookout, in turning to the left in front of defendant Krebek’s automobile, in not being on his own right side of the highway, and in not avoiding the accident; that defendant Krebek was guilty of negligence in driving his automobile on his left-hand side of the highway at an excessive rate of speed, such as to endanger the life and limb of other persons generally using said highway, in not keeping a proper lookout, in not having his automobile under control, and driving it into the Ford. Defendants’ answers are, in effect, a general denial.

The accident occurred on highway No. 275, surfaced with oil mat or black top, 24 feet in width, and about a mile and a half east of Meadow Grove, Nebraska, on May 1, 1940, at approximately 11:30 a. m., in front of the Haskell Osborn farm. The highway for the most part near the place of the accident is smooth and practically level. Defendant Wright was driving a Ford automobile east on said highway and defendant Krebek a Buick sedan, proceeding west thereon. The day was clear, the wind blowing, and the visibility good. The highway runs out of Meadow Grove from the east on a section line, and near the Osborn farm there is a [759]*759wide turn, taking the road southeast from the section line. A few rods west of the Osborn house is a concrete culvert wider than the oil mat. On the south side of the highway, east of the culvert, there is a curve sign, and east of this sign is the Osborn driveway on the opposite side of the highway, and where the highway leaves the turn south it angles in that direction for a half mile where it connects with the half-section line, then proceeds straight west in what amounts to a large “S” curve for a half-mile. The land is level and there are no trees of any size on the south side of the highway for some distance west of the Osborn place and for some distance southeast. A grove, some trees and shrubs near and about the Osborn farm and along the highway will be referred to later.

On the morning in question plaintiff, as a guest of Wright, proceeded from Tilden, Nebraska, on highway No. 275 in an easterly direction, and as they approached the Osborn farm, Wright called plaintiff’s attention to a car coming toward them from the east. Plaintiff testified they were then just west of the culvert, and Wright said: “ ‘Look at that car,’ and he wondered if it was ever going to get over;” that, considering the highway at that point as an “S” curve, the approaching car was coming out of the curve about half-way around it. The witness explained that “after you get past the Osborn farm there is a short curve to the south and then the road runs in a. southeasterly direction for about a half-mile, then there is another more wide, sweeping curve that turns into the straight-away going on east;” that plaintiff and Wright were on the straight east and west road when Wright made the remark, ,and they continued thereon until they were somewhere past the Osborn driveway and west of a bridge. Plaintiff saw the Buick approaching, and it was on the south side of the road when his attention was called to it, and when the Buick came out of the curve, he remembered sliding down in his seat because he felt that an accident was unavoidable. He placed the Krebek car on its south and left side, and the Wright car on its right and south side, of the highway. Plaintiff [760]*760stated that he did not pay any attention to the car coming from the east until Wright called his attention to it. The curve sign is seven feet south of the south edge of the mat. The distance from the west side of the culvert to the curve sign is 360 feet, and the distance from the curve sign to the beginning of the curve where the road takes-off to the southeast is 180 feet. The height of the road above the ditch on the south side near the curve sign is four feet, and there is a four-foot fill above the adjacent ground in the center of the grade. The distance from the curve sign to the driveway into the Osborn place is 125 feet, and the distance to the beginning of the curve to the right from the bridge on the highway is 540' feet; that is, where the road begins to curve to the southeast. The bridge is the same width as the highway and a 10-foot span.

At the time of the collision Osborn was in front of his barn sacking wool. He did not see the accident, but heard the cars come together and was the first person on the scene. The only witnesses to the accident were the plaintiff and the two defendants. The Ford car stopped right on the fence line on the north side of the highway, 60 to 70' feet from Osborn’s driveway and a little west thereof. The Buick was upside down over by the curve sign, lying on its top, facing almost straight north and a little to the northwest. Most of the Buick car was south of the white line, pointing north. Glass and débris on the highway were well scattered. Osborn stated there was a little more north of the center of the highway than in other places, and he noticed grease spots of Prestone coming from the Buick over the road to the south side. The- shoulders on each side of the highway were approximately six feet wide; on the south side there was a ditch four or five feet deep where dirt had been apparently taken to fill in other parts of the highway. The Ford came to rest off the grade on level ground northeast of the curve sign on the south side of the highway, a little more east than north. The grade, compared to the low spot where the Ford was, is four or five feet and stops where the Ford car laid on the fence line.

[761]*761The witnesses testified as to> glass on the highway, but there was no unanimity of observance as to the quantity and location of the glass. One witness testified that there was a little more glass north, while others testified that there was a little more south, of the white line. The point of impact of the Buick was the right front corner, right front wheel and fender, and the part thereof which came into contact with the Ford was practically torn off. The whole right corner of the car was crushed and bent back. There was a dent on top where the Buick came into contact with the road when it turned to the left and rested on its top.

A mechanic, who went after the Wright car, testified that the Ford was lying “on the north side of the road just at the bottom of the grade,” north of the turn, a little west of the Osborn driveway, on the fence line, on its right side, facing west; with reference to the right front wheel or front door of the Ford, that “the main part came just behind the front wheel” and just in front of the front door, indicating the most serious damage to the Ford; that its whole right side was destroyed; that “just about the cowl and front door took the worst part of the blow.”

The witness Gardiner, two and a half hours after the accident, went to the scene for the purpose of picking up the Krebek car, but it was gone.

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Bluebook (online)
7 N.W.2d 637, 142 Neb. 757, 1943 Neb. LEXIS 10, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/james-v-krebek-neb-1943.