Loomis v. Hannah

404 P.2d 568, 89 Idaho 358, 1965 Ida. LEXIS 378
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 3, 1965
DocketNo. 9523
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 404 P.2d 568 (Loomis v. Hannah) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Loomis v. Hannah, 404 P.2d 568, 89 Idaho 358, 1965 Ida. LEXIS 378 (Idaho 1965).

Opinion

SMITH, Justice.

Larry Loomis at the time of the litigation in the court below was a minor of the age of 18 years. He is referred to herein as respondent, represented by his father as guardian ad litem.

Appellant appeals from a judgment entered upon a jury verdict in favor of respondent for damages attributable to personal injuries which respondent received when, as a pedestrian, he was struck by appellant’s automobile: He also appeals from orders denying his motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, and motion to set aside the verdict and judgment.

The site of the accident was shortly beyond a slight crest of a hill and curve in State Highway No. 8, six miles east of Moscow, Idaho, where respondent was walking on the right side of the highway in the direction of eastbound traffic.

Upon finishing his work at a grocery store, about 11:15 p. m., the evening of January 13, 1963, respondent started for his home situate in the Joel Township, where he lived with his father. He had driven two miles from Moscow when his automobile ran out of gasoline. He then walked in the direction of Joel Township on the right-hand side of the highway. As he rounded the curve on State Highway 8, he approached an establishment known as the Highway Tavern, located on the south side of the highway. The Tavern sits back from the road some 25 to 30 feet, with a parking lot off the highway provided for its customers. Several cars were parked in the lot at the time of the accident.

Appellant testified that he was driving his automobile at a speed between 30 to 35 miles an hour around a gentle curve in the highway, approaching the Highway Tavern; that as he rounded the curve he first saw respondent 60 feet aheád of him, walking on the right-hand side óf the traveled roadway. Appellant did not sound his horn, but attempted to swerve the automobile to the left. As the vehicle veered to the left its right fender struck respondent causing him to be thrown approximately 30 feet by the impact.

Respondent in his complaint'alleges negligence on the part of appellant in failing to keep his car under control and in failing to keep a look-out so as to avoid injury to respondent; also that appellant was negligent in failing to sound his horn, or give other warning when he saw, or in 'the exercise of reasonable care should have seen, respondent. Respondent also alleges wilful and wanton acts committed by appellant in operating his vehicle at a speed greater than was reasonable and proper under the circumstances, violative of I.C. § 49-701; and in failing to exercise prop[362]*362er precaution violative of I.C. § 49-735, as regards respondent who, as he alleges, was a pedestrian “lawfully and properly walking in an easterly direction across a public parking area.”

Appellant in his answer denied the material allegations of respondent’s complaint and affirmatively alleged contributory negligence on the part of respondent in walking on the right-hand side of the highway at the time and place of the accident, violative of I.C. § 49-737.

Trial resulted in a verdict and judgment in respondent’s favor of $10,474.05, followed by this appeal.

Appellant assigns error committed by the trial court in denying appellant’s motions for a nonsuit made at the conclusion of respondent’s case, and for a directed verdict made at the conclusion of all the evidence; also in denying appellant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

The party who moves for nonsuit, for directed verdict, or for judgment notwithstanding the verdict admits the truth of. his adversary’s evidence and every inference of fact which may be drawn therefrom. Foster v. Thomas, 85 Idaho 565, 382 P.2d 792 (1963); Conklin v. Patterson, 85 Idaho 331, 379 P.2d 428 (1963); Shaffer v. Adams, 85 Idaho 258, 378 P.2d 816 (1963); Smith v. Big Lost River Irrigation District, 83 Idaho 374, 364 P.2d 146 (1961); White v. Doney, 82 Idaho 217, 351 P.2d 380 (1960). In view of such rule we shall consider the evidence in the light most favorable to respondent.

Appellant argues that the case should never have gone to the jury because respondent was in violation of I.C. § 49-737, which reads:

“Pedestrians on roadways. — (a) Where sidewalks are provided it shall be unlawful for any pedestrian to walk upon and along adjacent roadway.
“(b) Where sidewalks are not provided, any pedestrian walking along and upon a highway shall when practicable walk only on the left side of the roadway or its shoulder facing traffic which may approach from the opposite direction.”

In order to construe such section of the statute, certain statutory definitions as set forth in I.C. § 49-514 must be considered. That section of the statute reads:

“Highways, roads and sidewalks defined. — (a) ‘Street or highway.’ — -The entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.
^ 'I' *]í 'I'
“(c) ‘Roadway.’ — That portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordi[363]*363narily used for vehicular travel, exclusive of the berm or shoulder. In the event a highway includes two or more separate roadways, the term 'roadway’ as used herein shall refer to any such roadway separately but not to all such roadways collectively.

An examination of the record discloses that the jury in considering the conflicting testimony of the various witnesses may have found that respondent was not in violation of I.C. § 49-737, the “pedestrian statute.” Three witnesses to the accident testified that respondent was not on the roadway, as defined in I.C. § 49-514(c). Respondent may have been in violation of the pedestrian statute before he reached the parking lot of the Tavern; but if he was not on the roadway when the accident occurred he would not be guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law.

Mr. Morris, a witness for respondent, was sitting behind the wheel of a vehicle parked in the parking lot of the Tavern; the car’s headlights were on, facing respondent as he walked along the highway. The accident occurred within 30 or 35 feet of the Morris vehicle. Morris testified that respondent was illuminated by either his car’s headlights or the lights of the Hannah vehicle. He testified that respondent was in the parking area at the time of the accident; also that at such time appellant’s car, which “was going quite fast)” was-3 to 5 feet on the shoulder of the roadway, causing respondent to be silhouetted in the headlights of the vehicle; respondent at the time being 3 or 4 feet off the roadway. Morris later testified that he noticed some skid marks on the shoulder of the highway, made by the Hannah vehicle; also that the roadway of the highway at that time was dry.

Mr. Halliday, a witness for respondent, testified that he was seated on the right-hand side of the back seat of the Morris car when the accident occurred. On direct examination he testified that appellant’s ver hide “appeared to be going over to.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
404 P.2d 568, 89 Idaho 358, 1965 Ida. LEXIS 378, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/loomis-v-hannah-idaho-1965.