Killman v. Taylor

453 S.W.2d 574, 1970 Ky. LEXIS 321
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedMarch 6, 1970
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 453 S.W.2d 574 (Killman v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Killman v. Taylor, 453 S.W.2d 574, 1970 Ky. LEXIS 321 (Ky. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinions

CULLEN, Commissioner.

In the rural intersection of north-south arterial highway No. 105 with inferior east-west highway No. 108, around noon on a clear, dry day in August, the westbound Ford car of Mrs. Avis T. Taylor was struck by a southbound loaded log truck driven by Artha R. Decker. Mrs. Taylor and her 14-year-old daughter Vicki were injured. Mrs. Taylor’s 12-year-old daughter Jean Marie was killed, as was Decker.

The instant action for damages was brought by Mrs. Taylor, Vicki, and the ad[576]*576ministrator of Jean Marie’s estate against Decker’s administrator and Decker’s employer. There was no counterclaim (because the liability carrier on the Taylor automobile previously had settled claims asserted by Decker’s administrator and Decker’s employer). The case went to the jury, which found against Mrs. Taylor on her claim (on the ground of her contributory negligence) but awarded $2,500 to Vicki and $20,000 to Jean Marie’s administrator. Judgment was entered accordingly. The defendants have appealed, maintaining that they were entitled to a directed verdict because there was no evidence to sustain a finding that Decker was guilty of any negligence that was a proximate cause of the accident. Secondarily, they complain of error in the instructions.

We shall state the facts according to the evidence most favorable to the appellees, since that is the basis on which we must approach the question of whether the appellants were entitled to a directed verdict.

The two highways intersected substantially at right angles. Both highways were paved and the paved surface of each was 20 feet in width. There was an arterial stop sign on Highway No. 108 around 60 feet east of the intersection. However, there was a combination grocery store and filling station at the northeast corner of the intersection which was so situated that a motorist stopping at the stop sign had no appreciable view to the north on Highway No. 105. A clear view was available to the north from a point around 30 feet east of the intersection, but traffic could be seen on Highway No. 105 only for 300 feet north of the intersection, because there was a curve there in Highway No. 105.

Mrs. Taylor stopped at the stop sign but could not see to the north on Highway No. 105 so she moved forward two car lengths (about 36 feet) and then stopped again. At this point she could see 300 feet to the north on Highway No. 105. She looked to the north and saw no approaching vehicle. She then moved slowly into the intersection and had proceeded so far that the front of her car had cleared the intersection when the rear of her car was struck by the log truck. The log truck approached the intersection at a speed of around 50 miles per hour and at no time did it slow down or change its course.

Analyzing the evidence, we observe that the log truck, traveling at 50 miles per hour, would cover the distance of 300 feet, from the curve to the intersection, in about four seconds. Mrs. Taylor’s car, starting from a stop at a point around 30 feet east of the intersection and moving forward to a point where the front of the car had cleared the 20-foot width of the intersection, a total distance of some 50 feet, very well would have taken at least four seconds, at slow speed, to cover that distance (two seconds at five miles per hour for 15 feet, and two seconds at ten miles per hour for 30 feet). A reasonable conclusion from this evidence is that when the log truck first rounded the curve, 300 feet from the intersection, Mrs. Taylor was moving toward the intersection, and her continued movement, into and across the intersection, was in plain view of Decker for the full 300 feet he traveled from the end of the curve to the point of collision. When the Taylor car was struck it lacked a distance of only eight feet or so of clearing the intersection, which would have been accomplished in a second or less of time. If Decker, by the time he had approached within 100 feet of the intersection, simply had reduced his speed to 25 miles per hour, he would have given Mrs. Taylor the time she needed to clear the intersection.

Under those circumstances, can it be said, as the appellants maintain, that Mrs. Taylor’s negligence was the sole proximate cause of the collision and that Decker was guilty of no negligence that was a proximate cause of the collision? We are convinced that the answer is “No”; however, there are suggestions of inconsistency in some of our previous holdings in this area, [577]*577so some effort at clarification may be desirable.

The specific type of case with which we are concerned involves a collision between a motor vehicle on a through highway and a motor vehicle entering upon that highway from an inferior highway or a private entrance. The particular question is whether the operator of the vehicle on the through highway can be held guilty of negligence constituting a proximate cause of the collision, so as to render him liable to a passenger in one car or the other, or so as to bar his own claim for damages. We are not concerned here with the question of the other driver’s negligence, which ordinarily has been found to exist as a matter of law.

In one group of cases, which we shall call “Group A,” this court held that the negligence of the driver who entered upon the through highway was as a matter of law the sole cause of the collision. In that group are Vaughn v. Jones, Ky., 257 S.W.2d 583; Chambliss v. Lewis, Ky., 382 S.W.2d 207; Riggs v. Miller, Ky., 396 S.W.2d 69; Davidson v. Davidson, Ky., 412 S.W.2d 221; and Tooke v. Adkins, Ky., 418 S.W.2d 220.

In a second group of cases, “Group B,” we held that there was a jury issue as to whether the driver of the vehicle on the through highway was guilty of negligence constituting a proximate cause of the collision. In that group are Metcalfe v. Hopper, Ky., 400 S.W.2d 531; Tilford v. Garth, Ky., 405 S.W.2d 6; Browning v. Callison, Ky., 437 S.W.2d 941; Indianapolis & Southeastern Trailways, Inc. v. Blankenship, Ky., 444 S.W.2d 267; and Ellison v. Begley, Ky., 448 S.W.2d 371.

In the opinions in a number of the “Group B” cases we undertook to distinguish the “Group A” cases. For example, in Tilford the court distinguished Vaughn, Chambliss, Riggs, and Davidson on the ground that in those cases “the speed and proximity of the vehicle on the superior highway when the other one entered made it obvious that the driver with the right-of-way did not have time to avoid the collision.” The court said that whether the negligence of the other driver is the only proximate cause depends on whether the driver on the through highway “has reasonable time and opportunity to avoid the collision after he is able to apprehend the negligence of the first motorist.” Again, in

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Bluebook (online)
453 S.W.2d 574, 1970 Ky. LEXIS 321, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/killman-v-taylor-kyctapp-1970.