Miller v. Griffith

66 N.W.2d 505, 246 Iowa 476, 1954 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 422
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedOctober 19, 1954
Docket48505
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 66 N.W.2d 505 (Miller v. Griffith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Miller v. Griffith, 66 N.W.2d 505, 246 Iowa 476, 1954 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 422 (iowa 1954).

Opinion

Hays, J.

Suit for damages arising out of a collision between two automobiles being driven by plaintiff and defendant. Each asks damages against the other based upon negligence. Prom a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff, the defendant has appealed.

The collision occurred on a bright, clear day at the intersection of Highway No. 6 and County Road No. 67, Cass County, Iowa. At this point the highway runs east and west, while the road runs approximately north and south. Plaintiff, driving a 1950 Buick, was going west on No. 6. Defendant, driving a 1934 Ford, was approaching No. 6 from the north on No. 67. Each had an unobstructed view and each saw the other approaching the intersection. The testimony places the speed of plaintiff’s car between 50 and 65 miles per hour. The speed of defendant’s car was between 5 and 10 miles per hour. While there is a dispute as to whether or not the defendant’s car came to a complete stop as it reached No. 6, it is clear that to all practical purposes it did so.

Defendant testified that as he approached No. 6 from the north he looked to the east and saw plaintiff’s car coming at fast speed. He stopped and then proceeded onto the pavement in a southeasterly direction and was astride the center line at the time of the collision. He at no time attempted to stop after reaching the pavement. Plaintiff’s testimony is that he saw defendant’s *479 car coming from the north when he was between a quarter and a half a mile to the east of the intersection. He observed it come to a virtual stop; that it then pulled onto the highway in a diagonal direction which placed it in the right or north lane. To avoid a head-on collision he swerved his car to the left lane but could not avoid hitting it. The right front of plaintiff’s car struck the right front of defendant’s car and then crashed into an abutment to the southwest. Plaintiff sustained serious and permanent injuries and his car was demolished.

Ten propositions are assigned as a basis for a reversal. At the outset, and speaking personally and perhaps not for the other members of the court, the writer desires to say that appellant’s brief and argument shows little, if any, attempt to comply with rule 344, E. C. P., and but for the serious injuries sustained by the plaintiff and the size of the judgment against the defendant, $25,000, it would be his inclination to dismiss the appeal.

I. Error is asserted in the failure to direct a verdict. The motion is based entirely upon the issue of plaintiff’s contributory negligence as a matter of law. There are no brief points, but in the argument reference is made to various parts of the record dealing with the conduct of the plaintiff and then comes the general statement that “under the testimony, the physical facts, the speed, the visibility and all other circumstances shown, plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law.”

Contributory negligence and proximate cause are strictly issues of fact and ordinarily are for the jury except where, under the entire record, plaintiff’s contributory negligence is so palpable that reasonable minds may fairly reach no other conclusion, and the question becomes one of law for the court. Kinney v. Larsen, 239 Iowa 494, 498, 31 N.W.2d 635; Howie v. Ryder & McGloughlin, 244 Iowa 861, 865, 58 N.W.2d 389. While we have not set forth the record at length, an examination thereof shows a situation upon which reasonable minds might well differ. It was properly submitted to the jury. The assignment is without merit.

II. It is claimed the court erred “in overruling defendant’s objections to the testimony offered by witnesses Arthur Dickson, Aloysius Galowitsch, David J. Miller, and Gerald T. Kroger, on the grounds specifically stated in each objection.” *480 There are no brief points and the only authorities cited are “Wigmore on Evidence; Jones on Evidence; Chamberlain on Evidence.” The argument sets forth some 70 questions, objections interposed, and in most cases the answers of the witness. No attempt is made at pin pointing any question, or any objection the overruling of which was error. Such assignment of error merits no consideration and none is given. Patterson v. Wuestenberg, 239 Iowa 658, 32 N.W.2d 209; Broadston v. Jasper County Sav. Bk., Inc., 244 Iowa 1161, 58 N.W.2d 309.

III. Appellant requested the court to instruct the jury: “* * * if defendant stopped before entering the highway intersection in question, and, acting as a reasonably prudent and careful man, believed that any ear coming from the left would travel in the north lane of the highway and at a reasonable rate of speed, and believed as a reasonably prudent and careful man that he had time and opportunity to turn to the left and enter the south lane of traffic on said highway without hazard, and if, acting as a reasonably prudent and careful person, he did so believe, then he would not be guilty of negligence.” The trial court noted, “Given in substance.” In Instruction No. 6 the court stated the substance of the statute dealing with meeting at intersections, and then stated: “* * * if you find that the defendant on approaching and entering the intersection exercised reasonable care and caution to keep a proper lookout and that under all óf the circumstances then existing the danger of collision with the vehicle of plaintiff was not to be reasonably apprehended, then he would not be negligent.” We think the instruction properly protected defendant and find no error. Barnes v. Barnett, 184 Iowa 936, 169 N.W. 365; Tinley v. Chambers Implement Co., 216 Iowa 458, 249 N.W. 390.

IV. The following instruction was requested and refused by the court, “No feeling of either sympathy or ill will should be permitted to in any way influence you in arriving at a verdict. It is the right of each party to the action to have the case decided absolutely upon the facts and the law regardless and independently of any other consideration whatsoever.” The court in Instruction No. 29 said in part: “* * * in deliberating upon your verdict you are not to consider nor discuss any matter *481 ontside the evidence and these instructions, but base your-verdict solely upon the evidence and the law as here given * *

Appellant relies upon Chapman v. Pfarr, 145 Iowa 196, 204, 123 N.W. 992, 995, wherein it was held error in refusing to give such an instruction. In that case the plaintiff had sustained serious injuries and his wife and three children were killed. The court reversed the ease on the basis of excessive damages, and in the opinion stated that “it must have been apparent to the court that this was a ease likely to appeal very strongly to the sympathies of the jurors, and in which, owing to the rules of law limiting plaintiff’s recovery * * *, the jury, if they found for plaintiff on the issues of negligence, would be likely to feel an inclination to award a much larger amount than the evidence would justify.” We do not think the facts in the instant case bring it within the situation found in the cited case. Furthermore, it is stipulated that the award is not excessive.

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Bluebook (online)
66 N.W.2d 505, 246 Iowa 476, 1954 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 422, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-griffith-iowa-1954.