Miller v. Detroit United Railway

166 N.W. 870, 200 Mich. 388, 1918 Mich. LEXIS 844
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 27, 1918
DocketDocket No. 170
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 166 N.W. 870 (Miller v. Detroit United Railway) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Detroit United Railway, 166 N.W. 870, 200 Mich. 388, 1918 Mich. LEXIS 844 (Mich. 1918).

Opinions

Stone, J.

Plaintiff recovered a judgment for $530.15 damages for alleged personal injuries, and also for damages to his Wood electric automobile, received in a collision with one of the street cars of the defendant on October 16, 1915. The negligence complained of was excessive speed, want of control of car, and absence of signals. The plaintiff had lived in Detroit for 17 years, had owned 7 electric cars, had been accustomed to driving them, and was well acquainted with the streets of the city, and had been in the habit of crossing railway intersections.

He was driving his automobile north on MeDougall avenue about 5:30 p. m. and approached Waterloo street, upon which defendant operates its street cars, all of which travel in an easterly direction.-

The testimony of the plaintiff, in many material particulars, was contradictory and irreconcilable as found in this record, as will appear by the following excerpts taken therefrom:

“On the 16th day of October, about 5:30, I was driving up MeDougall avenue, and as we came near the railroad track on Waterloo street, I went slower and put on the brakes, and when the car was within, say 40 feet, I looked up the track, and I saw nothing coming in the way of a street car.
“Q. How far could you see up the track?
“A. About 125 feet.
“Q. Did you hear any noise at that time of the approaching car?
‘■A. No, I heard no noise or bell.
“Q. What did you do then?
“A. I, of course, cut down my speed.
“Q. How fast were you going?
“A. Not more than ten or eleven or.twelve miles.
“Q. At the time you first looked?
“A. Yes. sir.
[390]*390“Q. What was your rate of speed after that?
“A. I cut my car down probably to seven or eight miles as I approached the track. .
“Q. What did you have, or what did you do in order to do that?
“A. I put my foot on the brake.
“Q. Then what happened; you went along at the same rate of speed?
“A. I looked up and saw.
“Q. How far were you from the tracks when you looked the second time?
“A. I should say I was about 18 or 20 feet; I could not give the exact distance.
“Q. Did you notice the car?
“A. I saw a street car coming then very rapidly.
“Q. What did you notice about the car?
“A. I noticed it was coming very fast and jumped up and down pretty lively, and I saw something had to be done quick.
“Q. Could you have stopped your car?
“A. I could not stop it without getting killed.
“Q. Although going seven or eight miles an hour * * * what did you do ?
“A. I saw there was only one thing to do, turn to the right and go over the street car (track?) or be crushed.
“Q. What was immediately to your right?
“A. A telegraph pole, very large telegraph pole, * * * I had to avoid that.
“Q. Could you tell the court and jury what the distance was between the curb there, and the railroad track at your right?
“A. Ten feet from the curb to the first track — to the first rail. The telegraph pole was right on the corner. I turned with the car, the only thing that any man on earth could do to save himself, and he struck me, as near as I can explain, a sort of quartering near •the hinges, and the car was hit and I was struck on my head with glass.”

Plaintiif then testified that it was necessary to have the machine repaired at an expense of five or six hundred dollars. The bill for repairs was received in evidence, and defendant admitted it was a reasonable charge.

[391]*391The injury to plaintiff’s person was inconsiderable. On cross-examination the plaintiff testified:

“That electric car has four forward speeds. * * *
“Q. After you had looked the last time, and while approaching the street car track previous to turning, at what speed were you running?
“A. When I started to turn the car, or before I turned it probably not faster than seven miles an hour.
* * $
“Q. So in what distance, under the conditions as they were at that time, to your best judgment, would you have been able to have stopped the car running at a speed of 7 or 8 miles per hour?
“A. Well, it is impossible for me to answer the question only in this way: I use both brakes; I might possibly have been able to stop the car going at that speed in 10 feet or 8 feet.
“Q. Eight feet or ten feet using both brakes?
“A. I don’t know exactly; I don’t know as I could.”

He was then asked if he could have stopped it within 10 feet or 12 feet or 16 feet or 18 feet, and he answered he could not tell.

Cross-examination' continuing:

“Q. The front of, your car was from 18 to 20 feet from the street car track when you saw the car the last time?
“A. When I saw the car the first time; I never saw it but once.
“Q. You saw it only once?
“A. I looked up and saw it when I was forty feet away.
“Q. In the neighborhood of forty feet?
“A. Yes, sir.
_ “Q. When you approached the track when away a distance of 18 or 20 feet away from the car track, you looked again and saw the car approaching again at that time?
“A. Yes, sir. I noticed that the car was approaching very rapidly. I could not give the exact distance it was away when I first saw it; it would be impossible for me to tell you.”

On re-direct examination plaintiff further testified:

[392]*392“When I got within 18 or 20 feet from the track, I saw this car to my left. It is almost impossible for me to tell positively, whether or not, at the speed I was going, seven or eight miles an hour,. I could stop that car in a distance of 18 or 20 feet, when I first saw the car before reaching the track.”

Edward Voss and Edward Whitstock, two witnesses produced by the plaintiff, were driving another automobile, coming south on McDougall avenue at the time of this accident.

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Bluebook (online)
166 N.W. 870, 200 Mich. 388, 1918 Mich. LEXIS 844, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-detroit-united-railway-mich-1918.