McGovern v. Lord

162 A.2d 799, 91 R.I. 392, 1960 R.I. LEXIS 90
CourtSupreme Court of Rhode Island
DecidedJuly 29, 1960
DocketEx. No. 9921
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 162 A.2d 799 (McGovern v. Lord) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McGovern v. Lord, 162 A.2d 799, 91 R.I. 392, 1960 R.I. LEXIS 90 (R.I. 1960).

Opinion

*393 Frost, J.

This action of trespass on the case for negligence was brought to recover for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff when she was struck by an automobile owned by the defendant and operated by his wife. The case was tried in the superior court before a justice thereof sitting with a jury and resulted in a verdict for the defendant. The plaintiff’s motion for a new trial was denied, and the case is here on her bill of exceptions to the denial of such motion and to certain rulings made by the trial justice during the trial.

The declaration contains a single count and alleges that plaintiff, while crossing Broad street, a public highway in the city of Cranston, and while in the exercise of due care, was struck by defendant’s automobile thereby receiving bodily injuries.

The evidence discloses that on the afternoon of December 14, 1954 between four and five o’clock defendant’s wife was driving her husband’s automobile southerly on Broad street just beyond the Providence-Cranston line. She was accompanied by her mother, who was on the front seat, and two other women passengers who were on the rear seat. It was raining very hard. The plaintiff was attempting to cross the highway from the westerly side when she came in contact with defendant’s car, was knocked down, and received a broken left wrist and a fracture of the smaller *394 bone of the left lower leg. She was later taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital where she remained fifty-six days.

It appears from the evidence that Broad street in the general location of the accident is between 52 and 53 feet wide; that it runs generally north and south; that there is a crosswalk approximately 13 feet in width; and that the distance from the crosswalk northerly to the junction of Montgomery avenue and Broad street is 207 feet. It also appears that there is a bus terminal on the westerly side of Broad street between Oakland Cemetery on the south and the Palace Theater on the north; that there is an A & P store on the easterly side of Broad street; that the distance from the center of the store northerly to the crosswalk is 52 feet; and that from the crosswalk northerly to the center of the Palace Theater is 168 feet.

The plaintiff testified that she alighted from a bus at the bus terminal and attempted to cross Broad street at the crosswalk; that she had an umbrella which was closed; that she had seen an automobile at the entrance to the theater but thought she had time to cross; and that when she was about in the middle of the crosswalk she was struck and thrown mto the air by a car.

William T. MacDougald, principal of a junior high school in Providence, testified that he was driving southerly on Broad street; that while passing the Palace Theater he noticed two cars in front of him; that as he glanced up he saw an object in the air “about a foot or a foot and a half above the radiator of a car on the right side of an automobile”; that he stopped his car; that upon investigating he found plaintiff lying in the road about 35 feet south of the crosswalk; and that he helped her up and eventually took her to St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Mildred F. Lord, defendant’s wife, testified that she drove easterly on Montgomery avenue, stopped at Broad street, then turned right and proceeded southerly on Broad street; that the car was in low speed, and at the bus terminal she *395 shifted into second speed and was proceeding about 15 miles per hour; that after she had passed the terminal and the crosswalk she “felt as if something hit the side of my car —sort of a thud as if something had hit it”; that she was then directly across from the A & P store entrance; that she immediately put her foot on the brake and guided the car to the westerly curb; that on the right front fender was a post or rod which was to show when the car was close to the curbing; that she noticed this rod was bent; that when she got out of the car a man was assisting plaintiff; and that an umbrella which was open was rolling about, and she recovered it for plaintiff. The two passengers who were on the rear seat of the automobile also testified to hearing a brushing sound on the right front side of the car.

The plaintiff’s bill of exceptions contains six exceptions. The first four were taken to rulings on evidence made by the trial justice during the trial. We have examined these and find them to be without merit, and therefore they do not require discussion.

Each of the two remaining exceptions was taken to the denial of plaintiff’s motion for a new trial. At the hearing on such motion the trial justice discussed the grounds at considerable length and then denied the motion, to which an exception was taken.' A moment later he referred to a point which he had apparently overlooked, and after discussing it he again denied the motion, and an exception was taken thereto. These two exceptions will be treated as one exception.

The plaintiff’s motion for a new trial contains twelve grounds. Those numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 and 11 are proper grounds for a motion for a new trial involving as they do matters on which the trial justice could properly pass. General laws 1956, §9-23-1. Mingo v. Rhode Island Co., 42 R. I. 543. Grounds 8, 9 and 12 are based upon alleged errors of the trial justice which if true he could not -pass upon when deciding a motion for a new trial. Errors *396 made by a trial justice in the course of a trial to which exceptions have been taken are brought before this court by a bill of exceptions. G. L. 1956, §§9-24-14, 9-24-17. It does not appear that exceptions were taken to the alleged errors of the trial justice which are the basis for grounds 8, 9 and 12; nor does it appear that, if taken, they were incorporated in plaintiff’s bill of exceptions as they should have been if plaintiff desired this court to consider them. Blake v. Atlantic National Bank, 33 R. I. 109; Sharpe v. Cole, 43 R. I. 110; James C. Goff Co. v. Lunn, 49 R. I. 455; Labonte v. Alvernaz, 47 R. I. 226. Therefore in our consideration of plaintiff’s exceptions to the denial of her motion for a new trial we shall consider only the grounds which we hold arc; proper for the granting thereof.

In the jury’s consideration of the evidence the members might be expected to give particular attention to evidence relating to the weather, to the speed of defendant’s car, to plaintiff’s position on the highway in relation to the crosswalk, and to the part of the car with which she was in contact when struck. There was no dispute as to the weather. All the testimony showed that it was raining hard. The defendant gave the speed of her car as 15 to 20 miles per hour and there was no testimony which directly or inferentially contradicted her.

The plaintiff in her testimony placed herself upon the crosswalk. No one corroborated her in that. On the other hand there was ample evidence from which the jury could find that her contact with defendant’s car took place a little distance to the south of the crosswalk approximately opposite the entrance to the A & P store.

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

Related

Empire Merch. Corp. v. Bancorp R.I.
Superior Court of Rhode Island, 2011
Barnes v. Quality Beef Co., Inc.
425 A.2d 531 (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1981)
State v. Mercer
321 A.2d 105 (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1974)
Peloso v. Imperatore
264 A.2d 901 (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1970)
Petitpas v. MERCHANTS MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY
238 A.2d 750 (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1968)
Olivieri v. Corsetti
234 A.2d 117 (Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
162 A.2d 799, 91 R.I. 392, 1960 R.I. LEXIS 90, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcgovern-v-lord-ri-1960.