Kantar v. West End Air Conditioning Co.

144 N.W.2d 592, 274 Minn. 512, 1966 Minn. LEXIS 941
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedAugust 12, 1966
DocketNo. 39,697
StatusPublished

This text of 144 N.W.2d 592 (Kantar v. West End Air Conditioning Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kantar v. West End Air Conditioning Co., 144 N.W.2d 592, 274 Minn. 512, 1966 Minn. LEXIS 941 (Mich. 1966).

Opinion

Nelson, Justice.

Plaintiff, Martin Kantar, commenced this action against the defendants, West End Air Conditioning Company and Olive Kathryn Graham, for injuries and damages sustained in an automobile accident which occurred at the intersection of Excelsior Boulevard and Wooddale Avenue, Hennepin County, shortly after 12 noon on June 16, 1960.

After the jury returned a verdict in favor of defendants, plaintiff moved the trial court for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and a new trial on the question of damages alone or, in the alternative, for a new trial on all the issues. Plaintiff has appealed from an order denying the motion.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to defendants as the prevailing parties, the facts appear as follows:

Excelsior Boulevard is a 4-lane highway which runs in an east-west direction, its east- and westbound lanes being separated by a grass boulevard. On the day of the accident plaintiff was driving his 1957 Chevrolet 2-door station wagon west on this highway. Defendant Graham, accompanied by her 13-year-old son, was driving a 1959 Buick automobile owned by defendant West End east, intending to turn north [514]*514onto Wooddale Avenue. Defendant’s automobile came to the intersection with a green light for traffic on Excelsior Boulevard. It was noontime, raining, and the traffic was congested. A vehicle preceding the Graham car turned left into the intersection and stopped east of the cement berm or island separating the two lanes of Wooddale Avenue. Instead of turning into the intersection, which would have blocked the “cross traffic,” Mrs. Graham waited and the semaphore turned red. When it again turned green, Mrs. Graham proceeded to the location previously occupied by the left-turning vehicle and came to a complete stop east of the berm separating the Wooddale Avenue lanes at the south edge of the first or southernmost westbound lane on Excelsior Boulevard. At least two vehicles in that lane had stopped east of the Wooddale intersection because of the congestion. Before proceeding, Mrs. Graham looked to the right and saw no vehicles approaching in the northernmost or outer of the westbound lanes on Excelsior. She then proceeded at a speed of approximately 5 or 6 miles an hour and for the first time observed the plaintiff’s vehicle in the outer lane emerging alongside the two vehicles stopped in the first lane. She slammed on her brakes and stopped immediately, with her front end slightly over the imaginary line dividing the two westbound lanes. When she had stopped, the plaintiff’s station wagon was still in motion and slid forward perhaps 5 or 6 feet, coming to rest with its left side striking the front of Mrs. Graham’s car. After the contact the two vehicles were close together and may or may not have been touching. The only damage to the Buick from the contact was a slight flattening of the chrome nosing or trim across the front of the hood. There was no visible damage to the paint, grill, fenders, or bumper. Mr. Graham had the chrome strips replaced that afternoon and, according to Mrs. Graham, the car was then “back as good as new.”

Mrs. Graham’s 13-year-old son testified in a deposition that he had never seen plaintiff’s car until the cars hit. At trial he stated he had seen plaintiff’s car out of the corner of his eye before there was any impact.

Plaintiff testified that he was driving west on Excelsior Boulevard at approximately 20- miles per hour at the time of the accident.' Plaintiff’s [515]*515car had a dent on the left front door and the left front fender was damaged. No other damage to the plaintiff’s car is disclosed by the record.

A St. Louis Park policeman, Robert F. Linnell, arrived at the scene shortly after the accident. Both drivers stated to him that they were not injured. His testimony shows that both plaintiff and defendant removed their cars from the intersection before getting into the patrol car to give the policeman the usual information concerning an accident.

The main issues before the court on this appeal are (1) whether that portion of Excelsior Boulevard and Wooddale Avenue where the accident occurred constitutes a separate intersection within the meaning of Minn. St. 169.01, subd. 36(b), and (2) whether the evidence supports the verdict of the jury.

Plaintiff contends that at the point of the east half of Wooddale Avenue and the north half of Excelsior Boulevard where the accident occurred, the roadways of Excelsior Boulevard are 30 feet or more apart. It is true that the grass boulevard to the west of Wooddale Avenue is 30 feet in width, but to the east of Wooddale Avenue the width of the boulevard is 26 feet. The parties are in agreement that the accident occurred on the east half of Wooddale Avenue. Section 169.01, subd. 36(b), contemplates the roadways being separated by a divider or boulevard of at least 30 feet in width. It provides:

“Where a highway includes two roadways 30 feet or more apart, then every crossing of each roadway of such divided highway by an intersecting'highway shall be regarded as a separate intersection. In the event such intersecting highway also includes two roadways 30 feet or more apart, then every crossing of two roadways of such highways shall be regarded as a separate intersection.”

In Wagenhals v. Flint, 262 Minn. 326, 114 N. W. (2d) 641, this court was faced with the problem of construing § 169.01, subd. 36(b), with respect to a similar intersection. There the roadway intersected was divided by a boulevard having different widths on each side of the intersection. It appears that on the south half, which the plaintiff was required to travel, the width of the boulevard was 38 feet while on the [516]*516north half the boulevard was 25 feet. The court in Wagenhals held that for the purpose of applying a right-of-way statute the north half of the intersection, being divided by a boulevard measuring less than 30 feet, was not a separate intersection and that the south half of the intersection, being divided by a boulevard exceeding 30 feet, was a separate intersection. This court in Wagenhals said (262 Minn. 331, 114 N. W. [2d] 645):

“* * * If the rights of motorists are to be governed by what occurs as they enter an intersection, it is essential that they be able to take in the whole situation at a glance. This, of course, cannot be done where cars enter an intersection at some considerable distance apart. Apparently the legislature had this problem in mind when it reduced the size of what is considered an intersection to permit the rights and obligations of drivers to be established when they are in closer proximity to one another.”

Since the location of the accident and the widths of the grass boulevards in the case at bar are not subject to dispute, it would appear that Wagenhals v. Flint, supra, is controlling and that, therefore, Mrs. Graham while making a left turn onto Wooddale Avenue from Excelsior Boulevard did not enter a separate intersection and thus was proceeding on the green light.

It is the contention of the defendants that Mrs. Graham had a right to assume until notice to the contrary that other drivers would obey the law; that plaintiff under the conditions then existing improperly passed on the right and entered the intersection with such lack of lookout and control and at such a speed that he could neither stop nor otherwise avoid contact with defendant’s stopped car; and that from the evidence it is clear that whether Mrs. Graham had violated § 169.20, subd.

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Bluebook (online)
144 N.W.2d 592, 274 Minn. 512, 1966 Minn. LEXIS 941, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kantar-v-west-end-air-conditioning-co-minn-1966.