Lawson v. Darter

160 S.E. 74, 157 Va. 284, 1931 Va. LEXIS 319
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedSeptember 17, 1931
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 160 S.E. 74 (Lawson v. Darter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lawson v. Darter, 160 S.E. 74, 157 Va. 284, 1931 Va. LEXIS 319 (Va. 1931).

Opinion

Holt, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

On September 29, 1929, Fannie Darter was driving her automobile, a six-cylinder Studebaker coupe, along Main street in the town of Appalachia, and in the direction of which is known as Kentucky avenue. She was followed by John J. Lawson in his car, a six-cylinder Nash coupe.

It was her intention to make a U turn at the intersection of these two streets and to proceed back over Main street in the direction from which she had come. At this intersection there was, for the guidance of traffic, what is known as a "mushroom” around which cars were expected to pass in turning. Her evidence is that she was immediately followed by a third car, which, as she started to turn, passed her from her rear to her right. The defendant’s evidence is that there was no intervening car, but that he was immediately behind her and at about a car’s length distance. The speed of neither of these cars was excessive.

The plaintiff states that when about fifty or sixty feet from the point of turning she gave the proper signal to indicate her purpose. Code, section 2145 (19). In this she is corroborated by other witnesses. The defendant, who was likewise corroborated, said that she gave no signal whatever. In turning she slowed down and when her car was squarely across the street and opposite this "mushroom” [287]*287it came almost to a full stop. The defendant’s car was then following and near the middle of the street, and according to the testimony of some witnesses, passed over the “mushroom.” It struck the Studebaker coupe, broke its running-board, and so bent the frame that a door could not be opened. Its own headlight and bumper were also broken. Miss Darter was bruised on her arm, hip and leg and cut a little about the chin. She did not then deem her injuries important and said so, but in the night following pain in her back developed, and a physician was summoned who called to treat her on the following morning. She was confined to her home for two or three months, not “in bed all that time, just in and out of bed.” Her evidence is that she has lost considerable weight and is still very nervous, and that while she went to work in December following, is still below par and keeps going with difficulty. She testified that:

“Prior to this accident my health was good; I was strong; I never was such a robust woman, but still I had good health and really right at the time I did not realize I was injured so much, but the next morning it begun to show up on me, and I think it was not over two weeks until my menstrual periods came on me, and lasted from then to about three weeks that time, and I got relief for a short time only, and about the week after that it came on again, and it has been that way almost continuously, any time I do anything like sweeping it brings it on me, and any kind of house work other than washing dishes or anything like that hurts me every time I do it, and I have been under the doctor practically ever since the accident, and when I went to work in December, my physician told me not to go, but I have no other means of support only my labor and I did not feel like going to work when I did.”

There was a verdict for $5,000.00, which was confirmed by the trial court.

[288]*288It was first said that the court was in error in refusing to set this verdict aside as contrary to the law and the evidence.

If we are to accept as true evidence tendered on behalf of the plaintiff, she, at the proper time and in a proper way, signaled her purpose to make this U turn. This signal the defendant saw, or should have seen. He disregarded it and continued ahead without checking his speed until it was too late. In this he was negligent, while the plaintiff was not negligent because she had done all that the law required of her.

The jury and the trial court accepted her account of this accident, and it is our duty to accept it also if there is material testimony upon which it can rest. Thomas’ Case, 106 Va. 855, 56 S. E. 705; Cobb v. Commonwealth, 152 Va. 941, 146 S. E. 270; Johnson v. Commonwealth, 152 Va. 965, 146 S. E. 289; Ballard v. Commonwealth, 156 Va. 980, 159 S. E. 222, decided June 18, 1931.

The plaintiff was plainly entitled to some verdict.

It is next said that the court erred in allowing a photograph of the plaintiff to be introduced in evidence.

This photograph was taken a year before the trial and is an ordinary one of a young lady apparently in good health. The assignment is based upon the fact that it was not introduced by the photographer who took it, and upon the further fact that, photographs are often touched up, and at times are notoriously flattering.

The plaintiff’s evidence, as we have seen, is that she had lost weight. Before the accident she weighed from 130 to 135 pounds, and at the time of the trial 113. Its purpose doubtless was that the jury might in a general way see the effect of the nervous strain under which she had labored.

It is not necessary that the photographer himself be sworn as a witness. All that is necessary is that the photograph be identified. Spencer v. Looney, 116 Va. 767, 82 [289]*289S. E. 745, 16 Corpus Juris, section 1528; Hughes v. State, 126 Tenn. 40, 148 S. W. 543, Ann. Cas. 1913 D, 1262. “Photographs may be admitted to prove the physical condition of a person at a particular time.” 22 Corpus Juris, section 1117. This assignment is not well taken.

Next it is said that: “The court erred in refusing to strike out the evidence of Dr. W. B. Peters with reference to displacement of the uterus, or womb,' and as to what would follow such displacement, because the evidence did not show there had been a displacement.”

Dr. W. B. Peters was introduced and qualified as an expert. His testimony, in part, is as follows:

“Q. Assuming, Doctor, a young lady thirty-seven years of age, weighed 130 to 135 pounds who had been very healthy all her life, except, of course, the usual cold, but whose menstrual periods had lasted about three days, and had always been regular, met with an automobile accident .on the 29th day of September, ■ 1929, and in.that accident, while the person was seated at the steering wheel, another car struck her car, with such force as to break the bumper of the car, and rock or reel the car in which the occupant claims to have been injured, at least twice; that from that accident appeared a bruise on the back and on the hip and arm; that shortly after that, within a period of a few hours, she appeared very nervous, but immediately after the accident she said she was not hurt; that since that time the menstrual periods have extended for a period of three weeks out of a month; that one or two months they have gotten down to ten or twelve days of the month; that the day following the automobile accident the party was driven a distance of approximately forty miles, and immediately following this accident was confined to her bed for two weeks, under the care of a regular qualified physician, and in and about the house for a period of about three months; that ever since that period of three months [290]

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Bluebook (online)
160 S.E. 74, 157 Va. 284, 1931 Va. LEXIS 319, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lawson-v-darter-va-1931.