Kinealy v. Goldstein

400 S.W.2d 438, 1966 Mo. App. LEXIS 704
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 15, 1966
DocketNo. 32056
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 400 S.W.2d 438 (Kinealy v. Goldstein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kinealy v. Goldstein, 400 S.W.2d 438, 1966 Mo. App. LEXIS 704 (Mo. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

ANDERSON, Judge.

Plaintiff, Harry G. Kinealy, sought in this action to recover $10,000 for personal injuries and property damages alleged to have resulted from a collision on Delmar Boulevard near its intersection with Academy Avenue, between plaintiff’s 1960 Chevrolet pickup truck and a motor vehicle operated by defendant, Marshall Gold-stein, alleged to be driving said vehicle at the time as agent and servant of defendant, Koppel Furniture Company, Inc. Upon trial, plaintiff’s case was submitted solely upon the alleged negligence of defendant Goldstein under the humanitarian doctrine in failing to warn, slacken the speed and swerve his motor vehicle after said defendant saw or by the exercise of the highest degree of care could have seen plaintiff in a position of peril. There was a ver-[440]*440diet for defendant, and plaintiff has appealed from the judgment entered on said verdict.

Appellant contends that the trial court committed errors in instructing the jury. Respondents, in their brief, while denying all specific errors claimed, assert that plaintiff failed to make a case for the jury of the alleged negligence submitted. We will therefore make a full statement of the facts uncovered at the trial bearing on this issue, and in deciding the matter consider only that evidence and the inferences therefrom most favorable to plaintiff.

The collision in question occurred Monday morning, October 16, 1961, at approximately 8:20 a. m., on Delmar Boulevard near Academy Avenue. Plaintiff at the time was operating a 1961 Chevrolet pickup truck eastwardly on Delmar. He drove onto Delmar at Union Boulevard, which street was, according to his testimony, approximately four blocks west of Academy. He intended to turn left at Academy. Academy ends on the north side of Delmar. There are two sets of streetcar tracks in the center of Delmar, one for eastbound streetcars and one for those westbound. Between the rails of the track there is brick paving so that the area of the tracks can be and is used by automobile traffic. Midway between the two sets of tracks are two parallel white painted lines marking the center of the street. Delmar has, counting the area of the streetcar tracks, six traffic lanes. Adjacent to the streetcar tracks on Delmar there are what is referred to in the evidence as concrete safety zones near Academy, one on the east side of the intersection for use in connection with westbound streetcars and one on the west side for eastbound. According to plaintiff’s testimony the one on the west was about “a few feet” west of the intersection; the exact distance is nowhere shown. Plaintiff also testified that it was “right at the car tracks” with “very little” room between it and the nearest rail of the streetcar tracks. The exact distance between the concrete safety zone and said track is not shown, but from the photographs in evidence it appears to be two or three feet. This concrete structure is several feet high and cone shaped. The end facing east is flat and from there tapers toward the west where it comes to a point. The length of this structure is not shown. It appears from the photograph in evidence that there is an area east of this concrete structure, referred to as a pedestrian island which is obviously intended for use by persons waiting to board streetcars. West of the concrete structure, there are white painted lines which extend from each side of the concrete structure and meet forming a triangle. The length of this area is not shown. From the point of this area to the west is a painted white line. On the concrete structure there were, at the time, red and yellow blinking warning lights.

Plaintiff testified that as he proceeded east on Delmar, the left wheels of his truck were north of the south rail of the eastbound track and the right wheels south of said rail; that when he was approximately 100 feet from the pedestrian island, he looked into his rear-vision mirror and observed another vehicle quite a distance to his rear, then turned on his left turn blinker light, and proceeded; that when he was “maybe 50 feet” from the pedestrian island, he turned toward the north to straddle the eastbound track; that he had turned “not very far” when his truck was struck on the side; that the truck was thrown sideways and he was thrown about in the cab of the truck; that the rear end of his truck came to rest against the concrete abutment; that the truck that hit him came to rest facing north; that at the time of the impact both front wheels of his truck were in the eastbound streetcar tracks, and the truck was at a slight angle; that he looked at the truck that collided with him and observed that the whole front of it on the right side was completely wrecked; that the part of his (plaintiff’s) truck which was involved in the collision was the left side of the cab at the door and where the spare wheel and tire was attached to the truck behind the [441]*441door; that the spare wheel and tire were all torn up.

Plaintiff further testified that the speed of his truck at the time he started to turn left was about 20 miles per hour; that thereafter, he reduced the speed to 15 miles per hour; that his speed at the time of impact was approximately 10 or 15 miles per hour. He explained that the reduction in speed was “because I had only 50 or 75 feet to go to see if I could make a left turn.”

Plaintiff offered no evidence as to where the truck driven by defendant, Goldstein, was at the time he turned toward his left or its speed at said time. Likewise, he offered no evidence as to how far he traveled after turning to the left before reducing his speed or how far he traveled after turning to the left before the collision occurred being content with the answer “not very far.” Nor was there any evidence by plaintiff as to how far his truck was pushed sideways by the force of the collision.

On cross-examination, plaintiff testified he did not know if the motor vehicle he saw to his rear at the time he turned on the left turn signal was the one being driven by defendant, Goldstein, or whether it was a car rather than a truck. Defendant, Goldstein, was driving an English Ford Truck called a Thames. Plaintiff stated he did not know if the motor vehicle he saw behind him was the one involved in the accident. He further stated he did not know how far behind him this vehicle was when he observed it; that he never saw the truck driven by defendant, Goldstein before the collision; neither did he know where said truck came from nor its speed and position in the street prior to the collision; that he knew his left turn signal was working on the dashboard, but did not know “if they were working outside; ” that he was going about 15 miles per hour when he was struck; that he would have run into the island had he not turned left; that part of his truck was over both rails of the eastbound streetcar track at the time of the collision, and his truck was at a slight angle. At this point, plaintiff’s attention was called to his deposition wherein he testified that no part of his truck was north of the north rail at the time of the collision, whereupon plaintiff changed his testimony stating that the account in the deposition was, “the way it happened.”

Plaintiff further testified that his truck was pushed against the curb of the island, meaning no doubt that it was pushed against the concrete structure. He further testified that he looked to the rear only once, and that was when he was about 100 feet from the island. He stated that lie was not aware of any westbound traffic as he was driving east, stating as a reason for his unawareness that “I had not approached Academy yet.”

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Related

Clifton v. Crider
486 S.W.2d 274 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1972)
Haley v. Moore
419 S.W.2d 512 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1967)
Martin v. Sherrell
418 S.W.2d 209 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
400 S.W.2d 438, 1966 Mo. App. LEXIS 704, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kinealy-v-goldstein-moctapp-1966.