Kilmer v. Galbreth

218 N.E.2d 361, 139 Ind. App. 252, 1966 Ind. App. LEXIS 463
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 15, 1966
Docket20,273
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 218 N.E.2d 361 (Kilmer v. Galbreth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kilmer v. Galbreth, 218 N.E.2d 361, 139 Ind. App. 252, 1966 Ind. App. LEXIS 463 (Ind. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

Smith, C. J.

— This action was instituted by the appellant, Winifred Kilmer, against the appellee, Rose A. Galbreth. In said action the appellant sought to recover damages for personal injuries allegedly sustained by the appellant when she collided with a motor vehicle operated by the appellee.

The complaint, in substance, alleges the following:

That on the 12th day of May, 1962, in the City of Lo-gansport, Indiana, there was a public thoroughfare designated as East Broadway, extending in an eastwardly and westwardly direction, which street was intersected at right angles by a street designated as Fifth Street, said Fifth Street extending in a northerly and southerly direction.
That at the intersection of East Broadway and Fifth Street at the time of the collision, there had been installed on the four corners of said intersection “stop” and “go” lights for the purpose of regulating the movement of traffic at said intersection.
That on the 12th day of May, 1962, the plaintiff was walking across East Broadway Street in a southerly direction from the north curb toward the south curb at a time when the traffic light located at the southwest corner of said intersection was “green,” indicating that the plaintiff had the right, as a pedestrian, to cross Broadway.
That when the plaintiff was approximately 18 feet from the south curb line of East Broadway, the plaintiff was run down and struck by the defendant by reason of the careless, negligent and unlawful operation by the defendant of an automobile, thereby injuring the plaintiff.
That at said time the defendant was operating an automobile in a northerly direction upon Fifth Street; and carelessly, negligently and unlawfully so operated her automobile off of Fifth Street onto Broadway Street into and upon the plaintiff; and that such careless and negligent conduct on the part of the defendant consisted of the following acts of negligence:
*254 “1. That the defendant carelessly and negligently failed to keep a lookout ahead so as to avoid running into and against the plaintiff and injuring her as hereinafter alleged.
“2. That the defendant carelessly and negligently failed to bring her automobile to a stop so as to avoid running into and against the plaintiff and injuring her as hereinafter alleged.
“3. That the defendant carelessly, negligently and unlawfully drove and operated her automobile into and against the plaintiff at a time when the plaintiff, as a pedestrian, was crossing the aforementioned Broadway.
“4. That the defendant carelessly and negligently failed to yield the use of the crosswalk at said intersection to the plaintiff.”
That because of the careless and negligent operation of her automobile, the defendant operated her automobile against the plaintiff, striking the plaintiff’s body with the front bumper of her said automobile and dragging the plaintiff down East Broadway for a distance of 55 feet and running over the plaintiff thereby causing the plaintiff’s injuries.

The issues were formed by the appellant’s complaint and the appellee’s answer filed pursuant to Rule 1-3 of the Supreme Court.

Trial was had by jury, which resulted in a verdict in favor of the appellee.

The appellant filed a motion for a new trial, which in pertinent part reads as follows:

1. The verdict of the jury is not sustained by sufficient evidence.
2. The verdict of the jury is contrary to law.
3. The court erred in giving defendant’s instruction No. 2.
4. The court erred in giving defendant’s instruction No. 5.
5. The court erred in giving defendant’s instruction No. 10.
*255 6. The court erred in giving defendant’s instruction No. 21.
7. The court erred in admitting into the evidence defendant’s Exhibit A.

The motion for a new trial was overruled and from this ruling an appeal was taken.

The sole assignment of error is the overruling of the motion for a new trial.

The first error specified in the motion for a new trial is “that the verdict of the jury is not sustained by sufficient evidence.” The verdict returned in this case is a negative verdict. The rule is well established in Indiana that a negative verdict, or decision, may not be attacked on the ground of insufficient evidence; and that a verdict or decision against the plaintiff who has the burden of proof does not rest upon the quantum of evidence, and it cannot be asserted on appeal that such a disposition was not sustained by sufficient evidence. See, 2 I. L. E. Appeals, Sec. 572 at p. 487, and cases cited. Because the case at bar resulted in a negative verdict, the specification of error that “the verdict is not supported by sufficient evidence” presents no error for our consideration.

The second specified error is that “the verdict of the jury is contrary to law.”

The appellant, after an exhaustive review and discussion of the record evidence, maintains that the evidence relevant to the negligence of the appellee is clearly conclusive of appel-lee’s negligence and stands uncontradicted; and that the jury could have arrived at but one verdict, that being a decision in favor of the appellant.

Assuming arguendo that the negligence of the appellee was clearly established by uncontradicted evidence, the sole issue then remaining for this Court to consider and determine is whether there was evidence from which the jury, as reasonable men, could infer contributory negligence on the part of *256 the appellant. In other words, we need only to consider the question of contributory negligence on the part of the appellant as a defense to appellee’s own negligence.

The law requires that every person having the capacity to exercise ordinary care is required to do so for his own protection ; and, if a person fails to use such care in order to avoid injury to himself he is guilty of contributory negligence. Stewart, Administratrix v. The Pennsylvania Company (1891), 130 Ind. 242, 29 N. E. 916; Kingan & Company, Limited v. Foster (1913), 53 Ind. App. 511, 102 N. E. 103.

Ordinary care is required to be determined by the facts and circumstances of each particular case, and by what a man of ordinary care and prudence would do under similar circumstances to avoid injury to himself. See, Kingan & Company, Limited v. Foster, supra.

The appellant maintains that there was not one iota of evidence to support the defense of contributory negligence, and that the jury, as reasonable men, could not have found that the appellant was guilty of contributory negligence.

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Bluebook (online)
218 N.E.2d 361, 139 Ind. App. 252, 1966 Ind. App. LEXIS 463, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kilmer-v-galbreth-indctapp-1966.