King v. Mid-State Freight Lines, Inc.

126 N.E.2d 868, 6 Ill. App. 2d 159
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 8, 1955
DocketGen. 10,809
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 126 N.E.2d 868 (King v. Mid-State Freight Lines, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
King v. Mid-State Freight Lines, Inc., 126 N.E.2d 868, 6 Ill. App. 2d 159 (Ill. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE CROW

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is a suit resulting in a verdict by a jury in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant John Clarke, administrator of the estate of Lyle Clarke, d/b/a Clarke Outdoor Spraying Company, and a judgment entered thereon assessing the plaintiff’s damages at the sum of $10,000 for certain personal injuries allegedly suffered by the plaintiff as the result of the decedent Lyle Clarke’s negligence. The other original codefendants, Mid-State Freight Lines, Inc. and A. O. Schoen were found not guilty by the verdict and the plaintiff has not appealed from that. The complaint contained counts alleging negligence and counts alleging wilful and wanton conduct. The motions of the defendants for directed verdicts at the close of the plaintiff’s evidence and at the close of all the evidence were denied as to the counts alleging negligence and were allowed as to the counts alleging wilful and wanton conduct. The defendant John Clarke, administrator, filed a motion for judgment for that defendant notwithstanding the verdict. He did not file a motion for new trial. The trial court denied the defendant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and this is an appeal from that order and the judgment entered.

The question presented by the appeal, therefore, is the rather narrow issue of whether there is any competent evidence, together with all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, standing alone, taken with all its intendments most favorable to the plaintiff, tending to prove the material elements of the plaintiff’s case and from which the jury might reasonably find for the plaintiff and against that defendant to the effect that the plaintiff, while free from contributory negligence, was injured as a direct and proximate result of the negligence of the decedent Lyle Clarke; on this record we are not concerned with the weight or credibility of the evidence; reasonable inferences may be drawn by a jury from established facts, and a verdict may not be set aside merely because the jury could have drawn different inferences from the evidence; only where there is a complete absence of probative facts to support the conclusion drawn by the jury is it reversible error to overrule a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict: Lindroth v. Walgreen Co. et al. (1950) 407 Ill. 121. The principles applicable on such a motion are the same as are applicable on a motion for a directed verdict, and are well settled: Neering v. Illinois Cent. R. Co. (1943) 383 Ill. 366.

At about 2:15 a. m., August 23, 1952, the plaintiff was injured while riding as a passenger in the right front seat of an automobile driven by one Roland Stinson, on U. S. Route 34, also known as Ogden avenue, in a southwesterly direction about % mile east of Route 83 and a short way north of the north boundary of Hinsdale, Illinois. Ogden avenue is a 4-lane, heavily travelled, arterial highway passing through Hinsdale in a northeast to southwest direction. The terrain is rolling. The automobile of Stinson collided with the rear of a truck owned and operated by the Mid-State Freight Lines, Inc., of which A. O. Schoen was the driver, then also being driven in a southwesterly direction on Ogden avenue. The point on Ogden avenue where this incident occurred is between Adams and Monroe streets, which are 2 north-south streets running into Ogden avenue. That point and Ogden avenue generally for apparently 1% to 2 blocks east and about the same distance west of the point is outside the village limits of Hinsdale. But about 1% blocks east of the point of this occurrence the village boundary line jogs across Ogden avenue and extends north for several blocks and extends east along Ogden avenue some distance. So that, beginning about 1% blocks east of the point of this occurrence Ogden avenue is for some distance entirely within Hinsdale and Hinsdale there extends northwardly from Ogden avenue for several blocks. And west or southwest of the point of this occurrence Ogden avenue, running diagonally southwestwardly, comes closer and closer to the village limits of Hinsdale, finally forms the north boundary thereof for something more than 2 blocks, and ultimately intersects Eoute 83 at the northwest corner of the village, Eoute 83 running north and south and being the west boundary of the village. Ogden avenue at Adams street near the scene of the accident, is about 300 feet north of the village limits. North street is the first through street in the village south of Ogden avenue, it runs east-west, and, topographically, the intersection of North street and Monroe is the highest point in the village, and the point on Ogden avenue where this incident occurred is 20 or 25 feet lower. The area south of Ogden avenue between Monroe and Adams streets and north of North street is vacant, is part of an old “peat bog” and “slough,” and is surrounded by higher terrain on all sides to form a natural bowl at Ogden avenue and Monroe, about % block from the point of this accident on Ogden. That immediate area south of Ogden avenue is brush and weeds. North of Ogden is low land and some trees.

The plaintiff, in substance, alleged that Lyle Clarke, the defendant’s intestate, then doing business as Clarke Outdoor Spraying Company, had contracted with Hinsdale to spray.the village with mosquito control fog from time to time during the summer of 1952 as the need might arise; that Clarke so conducted such fogging operation at the times in question — during the night of August 22, 1952 and the early morning of August 23rd, by spraying certain areas of tbe village; that he had sprayed certain areas both north and south of Ogden avenue near the vicinity of the collision; that the mode of operation of Clarke was to travel along the streets with a motorized spray apparatus, releasing a chemical fog to destroy mosquitoes and other insects; that Clarke depended on the force of the wind to carry this chemically created and saturated fog from the street to areas beyond the curbs, and that at the times in question large patches of such fog were created and blown over and upon Ogden avenue; that the truck of Mid-State Freight Lines, Inc. encountered one of these patches of created mosquito control fog and stopped or nearly stopped therein creating a special hazard to persons lawfully travelling on the highway; that due to the alleged negligence of Clarke the automobile of Stinson, in which the plaintiff was riding, collided with the rear of the Mid-State Freight Lines, Inc. truck, which was so stopped or nearly stopped in such patch of created mosquito control fog, and as a direct and proximate result of Clarke’s negligence and the ensuing collision the plaintiff was injured by being thrown in and about the automobile in which he was riding.

The charges of negligence are: (1) Clarke negligently and improperly carried on his spraying operation; (2) Clarke negligently failed to display warning signs of the hazardous situation which he knew or should have known would be created by his operation; (3) Clarke negligently carried on his spraying operation at a point so close to Ogden avenue as to endanger persons lawfully traversing the same, and (4) Clarke negligently carried on his spraying operation at a time when he knew or should have known the wind would carry the fog so created over and upon the highway, obstructing and impairing the vision of persons lawfully traversing the same.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Zvonarits v. Vollen
382 N.E.2d 18 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1978)
Village of Lombard v. Jacobs
277 N.E.2d 758 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1972)
Arbogast v. Fedorchak
194 N.E.2d 382 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1963)
Drews v. Mason
172 N.E.2d 383 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1961)
Stowers v. Carp
172 N.E.2d 370 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1961)
Stilfield v. Iowa-Illinois Gas & Electric Co.
167 N.E.2d 295 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1960)
Marquardt v. Cernocky
151 N.E.2d 109 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
126 N.E.2d 868, 6 Ill. App. 2d 159, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/king-v-mid-state-freight-lines-inc-illappct-1955.