Loftus v. Palmer

46 N.E.2d 312, 37 Ohio Law. Abs. 177, 1942 Ohio App. LEXIS 820
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 3, 1942
StatusPublished

This text of 46 N.E.2d 312 (Loftus v. Palmer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Loftus v. Palmer, 46 N.E.2d 312, 37 Ohio Law. Abs. 177, 1942 Ohio App. LEXIS 820 (Ohio Ct. App. 1942).

Opinion

OPINION

By GEIGER, PJ.

This matter is before this Court upon appeal from the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas awarding judgment to the plaintiff in the sum of $2,000.00, upon a verdict of the jury, as a result of injuries alleged to have been received by the plaintiff through the negligent operation of an automobile by the defendant.

In the amended petition it is alleged that on June 12, 1939, the plaintiff, at about 3:55 P. M., and other workmen of the International Harvester Company were proceeding westwardly on Park Avenue, a duly dedicated public street, extending in an east and west direction from Lagonda Avenue to Belmont Avenue, two streets running approximately north and south at this point. It is alleged that the said Park Avenue was customarily used for the workmen in proceeding to and from their place of business. There were no sidewalks on either side of Park Avenue, but each side was fenced with heavy wooden fences. It is alleged that plaintiff was, at the time, walking westwardly on the south side of Park Avenue with another workman about 2% feet from the fence bordering the south limits of the street and that when he reached a point 60 feet east of Belmont Avenue, the defendant was driving an automobile on Belmont Avenue and turned east into Park Avenue at a speed of 20 miles per hour; that without any warning to plaintiff, the defendant negligently and carelessly turned the automobile that she was driving, from its path to her right and collided with plaintiff; that the force of the collision caused the injuries complained of.

An ordinance of the city is plead to the effect that no person shall turn a vehicle at any corner at a rate exceeding one-third the otherwise legal speed limits at that place.

It is alleged that the defendant was guilty of negligence in that at the time of the collision and immediately prior thereto she was operating her automobile at a speed greater than was reasonable and proper and greater than would permit her to bring the automobile to a stop within the assured clear distance ahead; that she negligently changed the course of the automobile, which she was driving, without giving any warning visible outside of the vehicle of her intentions to do so, although many pedestrians, including plaintiff, were using said street at the time and place.

Plaintiff prays for damages in the sum of $7,500.00.

The defendant filed an amended answer admitting the situation as' to the streets as alleged in the petition and that Park Avenue is used by working men going to and from their place of employment; that plaintiff was walking abreast [179]*179with other workmen on ■ Park Avenue and that plaintiff collided with the automobile driven by defendant. She specifically denies that she was driving at twenty miles per hour and that she turned her automobile .from its path to the right into or against the plaintiff.

All other allegations are denied.

As a second defense, it is alleged that the injuries were due solely and entirely to the negligence of the plaintiff in that he was walking in what purports to be a public highway without looking for traffic or automobiles and that he failed to keep a lookout while walking on said highway. Defendant alleges that if the plaintiff was injured, as alleged in his petition, it was through no fault or negligence of the defendant.

While the facts alleged in the pleadings are not complicated, there were many matters incidental to this trial that have given rise to some interesting, if not difficult, Questions. As to the facts disclosed by the testimony, it might be briefly stated that Lagonda Avenue, adjacent to the International Harvester Company, and Belmont Avenue, a square west, are joined by Park Avenue, running east and west, a hard surfaced street which at that time had no sidewalks but on each side of which there were substantial fences. It would appear that the time was shortly after 3:30 P. M., when hundreds of men were leaving their work at the International Harvester Company and many were proceeding enmass westward on Park Avenue. At the same time there were some cars driven westward as well as a fewer number driven eastward on Park Avenue. Defendant was driving her car along Park Avenue to a point where she was to meet her husband whose quitting hour at the shop was 3:30 P. M. The plaintiff, together with companion workmen, was proceeding as a pedestrian westward along the south side of said street. At a point about 60 feet west of Belmont Avenue he noticed a friend endeavoring to start his car in a parking lot south of Park Avenue and after he had passed him a few; feet turned and called to him in a jocular manner in reference to his inability to start his car. In the course of his conversation with his friend, he slackened his speed-somewhat so that his fellow workmen, who had been traveling abreast of him, proceeded a little ahead. It would appear that when the plaintiff assumed his westward course he first discovered the automobile of defendant coming directly toward him and, as he avers, after it had changed its course. He admits that if he had been looking straight ahead he could have discovered the approach of that automobile in time to have avoided the accident. His companion workmen did avoid the automobile but the defendant was struck.

There is evidence that the plaintiff was driving her car at about 20 miles an hour, although she testifies that she was nob moving more than fo-ur miles an hour.

The factual issue is whether the accident is due to the negligence of the defendant in the method in which she drove her car in a crowded, narrow outlet to the shop in which many men were then going westward without discrimination as to what was the right hand side of the road or the left. The plaintiff was traveling on the south or his left hand side of Park Avenue. If the defendant properly moved her car from the course in which she was traveling, she moved it toward the south or what would be her right hand side of the road as she proceeded eastward.

[180]*180The defendant introduced evidence to the effect that after the plaintiff had stopped to converse with his friend about his stalled automobile that without looking he proceeded, toward the car, moving eastward at a slow rate, and collided with it striking it upon the right hand fender.

The narrow issue is whether or not the plaintiff was guilty of negligence or contributory negligence in the method he pursued as a pedestrian or whether he was without negligence and the defendant alone was guilty of negligence in the method in which she operated her car by turning it out of its course so as to strike the plaintiff.

The jury by a nine to three verdict found in favor of the plaintiff and fixed the damages in the sum of $2,000.00.

In addition to the general verdict there was a special interrogatory submitted and answered by the jury—

“Was the plaintiff, Andrew Loftus, keeping a lookout ahead for approaching automobiles?
A. (Signed by 9 members)— “Yes.”.

Appropriate motions for new trial were made and overruled and notice of appeal was given on November 10, 1941, as follows,—

“The defendant hereby gives notice of appeal to the Court of Appeals from the judgment rendered by the Court of Common Pleas in the above entitled cause on the 22nd day of November, 1940. Said appeal is on questions of law and facts.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
46 N.E.2d 312, 37 Ohio Law. Abs. 177, 1942 Ohio App. LEXIS 820, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/loftus-v-palmer-ohioctapp-1942.