Jones v. Wray

337 P.2d 226, 169 Cal. App. 2d 372, 1959 Cal. App. LEXIS 2079
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 6, 1959
DocketCiv. 22737
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 337 P.2d 226 (Jones v. Wray) 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
Jones v. Wray, 337 P.2d 226, 169 Cal. App. 2d 372, 1959 Cal. App. LEXIS 2079 (Cal. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

FOURT, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment after a verdict of a jury in favor of the defendants in a personal injury action brought by a minor plaintiff.

The accident occurred in the city of Long Beach on August 17, 1955, at about 1:50 o’clock p. m., at a point on Gaviota Street about 120 to 125 feet north of Hungerford Street. Gaviota is an ordinary residential street 30 feet wide, located in a general north-south direction, and intersects Hungerford Street, which is located in a general east-west direction. There were houses on both sides of Gaviota Street, and some trees were growing in the parkway. About 120 to 125 feet north of Hungerford Street two automobiles were parked on the east side of Gaviota Street. Opposite these parked automobiles, and on the sidewalk area on the east side of Gaviota Street several small children were playing. The plaintiff, a boy of the age *374 of 5 years and 3 months, resided with his parents in a house on the west side of Gaviota Street just north of where the accident occurred.

At the time in question, the defendant Wray was familiar with the area and had driven in an easterly direction on Hungerford Street, and then had made a left turn off of Hungerford Street onto Gaviota Street, heading north, at which time he was traveling about 15 to 20 miles per hour. He noticed the children on the sidewalk on the east side of Gaviota Street and north of Hungerford Street. He saw the parked automobiles and continued northward at a speed not exceeding 15 miles per hour. Wray looked at the children out of the corner of his eyes and looked at the street ahead and he testified that he saw no children in the street. Wray stated that when he was about opposite the rear of the second parked automobile he heard a thud or noise on the right side of his car. He testified that he did not see the child until afterwards, although he was looking at the children until he heard the thud. At the time of the thud the left wheels of Wray’s car were approximately in the center of the street. There were no skid marks attributable to the Wray ear. Wray brought his automobile to a stop, got out and saw the child lying in the street.

There apparently were no witnesses to the actual impact itself, excepting the driver Wray and the child who was injured, and there was no direct testimony as to how the boy got into the street or that he was in the street as Wray drove northward on Gaviota Street. However, several neighbors heard the impact and rushed out of their respective houses and saw the boy lying at about the center of the street at the rear of the left rear tire of the automobile. The boy was dressed in shorts and had grease on the back of his body.

The appellant complains that the court refused to instruct the jury that a child of the age of 5 years and 3 months was not guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law* and instead instructed the jury, in effect, concerning the standard of care applicable to a child; further, that the court gave other instructions which were in conflict and prejudicial, and that the court refused to give plaintiff’s proposed instructions with reference to the rights of a minor pedestrian in crossing the street.

The Supreme Court in Courtell v. McEachen, 51 Cal.2d 448 [334 P.2d 870], answered the first contention of appellant. In that case a child 5 years and 9 months of age was *375 injured from burns received upon coining into contact with some debris which was being burned by the defendants on a lot belonging to them. The trial court in the Courtell case instructed the jury, in effect, that, as a matter of law, the child was not guilty of contributory negligence. The Supreme Court said (at pp. 464-465):

“The questions whether a child was capable of exercising care to avoid the particular danger encountered and whether, if so, the child failed to exercise due care, thereby contributing to the injury, are normally for the trier of fact to determine. (Cahill v. E. B. & A. L. Stone Co., 167 Cal. 126, 139 [138 P. 712].) In keeping with this rule courts have rejected the theory that a child of plaintiff’s age, namely, between 5 and 6, is incapable of contributory negligence as a matter of law. (Smith v. Harger, 84 Cal.App.2d 361, 370 [191 P.2d 25]; Carrillo v. Helm Bakeries, Ltd., 6 Cal.App.2d 299, 304 [44 P.2d 604].) The evidence was conflicting as to whether plaintiff’s dress caught fire because she played near flames or because she squatted down on embers, and a determination of this conflict was obviously essential in order to resolve the questions of plaintiff’s capacity to exercise care for her safety and of her contributory negligence. Accordingly, those questions could not properly have been decided as matters of law.

“Plaintiff appears to take the position that, in eases involving injury to young children, the trial judge may determine the issue of contributory negligence even though questions of fact are presented. She relies on a statement in Mayne v. San Diego Elec. Ry. Co., 179 Cal. 173, 177 [175 P. 690], that ‘as a rule courts upon appeal have not interfered with the discretion of trial courts in referring or in refusing to refer to juries the question as to whether the contributory negligence of children of the age of 14 years or under was such as to prevent their recovery. . . .’ In that case, however, the trial judge had not decided the issue of contributory negligence but had submitted it to the jury. Thus, the case on its facts does not support plaintiff’s position, and the quoted language should not be construed in the manner urged. Contributory negligence is "a matter bearing directly upon the outcome of a suit, and, where, as in the present case, the facts are in dispute, there is no rational basis for' permitting the judge, rather than the jury, to resolve that matter. So far as has been called to our attention, the existence of such an exceptional power is not recognized anywhere.”

*376 The trial court in the instant ease, at the request of the plaintiff, gave BAJI Number 147 as the twenty-ninth instruction, which read as follows:

“A child is not held to the same standard of conduct as an adult and is only required to exercise that degree of care which ordinarily is exercised by children of like age, mental capacity and experience. There is no precise age at which, as a matter of law, a child comes to be held accountable for his actions by the same standard as applies to an adult. It is for you to determine the mental capacity and experience of Gary L. Jones and whether his conduct was or was not such as might reasonably have been expected from a child of like age, capacity and experience, under the same or similar circumstances.
“The rule just stated applies even when a child is charged with having violated a statute, or the evidence shows such a violation.

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Bluebook (online)
337 P.2d 226, 169 Cal. App. 2d 372, 1959 Cal. App. LEXIS 2079, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-wray-calctapp-1959.