Perkins v. Holser

182 N.W. 49, 213 Mich. 579, 1921 Mich. LEXIS 597
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 30, 1921
DocketDocket No. 2
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 182 N.W. 49 (Perkins v. Holser) 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
Perkins v. Holser, 182 N.W. 49, 213 Mich. 579, 1921 Mich. LEXIS 597 (Mich. 1921).

Opinion

Stone, J.

This is an action on the case to recover damages for a personal injury of plaintiff. The plaintiff, a resident of the city of Pontiac, on June 14, 1919, received an injury as, a result of being struck by an automobile owned and operated , by the defendant. South Saginaw street is the main thoroughfare of said city, and runs north and south in the center thereof, and contains a double street car track. Raeburn court is a street starting on South Saginaw street, and extending eastward therefrom. It does not extend [580]*580west of South Saginaw street. On the northeast corner of South Saginaw street and Raeburn court was a grocery store known as Kroger’s. Diagonally across the street, that is somewhat south and west from Kroger’s, store, was an ice cream parlor (sometimes called a fruit store in' the record) belonging to one Nichols. It appears that on the day stated, at about 10:30 o’clock in the forenoon, the plaintiff, a man 77 years old,i left his home on Raeburn court, and proceeded westwardly to the Kroger grocery. Shortly thereafter he left said grocery store and attempted to cross South Saginaw street diagonally to the Nichols’ store. It does not appear just how wide South Saginaw street is. It does appear that it is a paved street, with a curb. As the plaintiff left the curb on the east side of South Saginaw street he looked in both directions — north and south — and saw two automobiles coming from the north on the west side of the street, and headed south toward Detroit. He waited for these automobiles to pass before attempting to cross, and failed to observe the third automobile which was apparently following the second, which third automobile, being that of the ¡defendant, struck him as he was leaving the westerly rail of the west or south-bound track, resulting in serious injury. It appears that when the automobile struck the plaintiff it threw him some distance ahead of the ear, and again ran into him and struck him the second time. Plaintiff testified that, although he had had a cataract removed from his right eye, at the time of the injury he had good vision in his right eye, that he was alert, had good hearing, and that the day was bright and sunny.

Suit having been instituted, the negligence charged in the declaration was that defendant drove his car in excess of 15 miles per hour; that he did not drive with his car under control; that he did not sound the horn [581]*581or give a reasonable warning of his approach; that he did not drive under such control as would permit its being -stopped in time to avoid striking pedestrians lawfully on the street, and that he had an unobstructed view of the street ahead of him, and had ample opportunity to- have seen the plaintiff had he been driving with his automobile under control. The undisputed evidence was that the car, as it approached the intersection of South Saginaw street and Raeburn court, was moving at 25 miles per hour; that no alarm was sounded and that it was running at such a high rate of speed that after striking the plaintiff the car skidded, and struck plaintiff, who had been thrown ahead of the car, a second time before it was stopped.

At the close of the plaintiff’s case defendant moved for a directed verdict on the ground of plaintiff’s contributory negligence, which motion was denied and the case was submitted to the jury without any testimony being offered on behalf of the defendant. The verdict returned for plaintiff was in the sum of $775. There is no claim that the damages were excessive, if plaintiff was entitled to recover at all. Judgment having followed the verdict, the case is here upon writ of error, and the sole error relied upon is that plaintiff’s contributory negligence, as matter of law, was so established by the record that the court should have taken the case from the jury and directed a verdict on behalf of defendant.

In the language of appellant’s brief:

“It will be noted that it is the claim and contention of the defendant and appellant that under the proof the plaintiff failed to meet that burden which rested upon him of showing freedom from contributory negligence, but that, on the contrary, his testimony disclosed, as matter of law, conduct establishing negligence on his part. * * * Defendant takes the position that, notwithstanding all that plaintiff’s proof established, he should not be held and bound to re[582]*582spond in damages because the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as his own testimony disclosed. There was a slight variance between the testimony given by plaintiff on direct-examination and cross-examination, but defendant maintains that plaintiff is bound by his adverse testimony, although it must be viewed in its most favorable light in passing upon the question as to whether or not plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence.”

So much depends upon the testimony of the plaintiff that we shall quote therefrom at considerable length. Plaintiff, after stating his age, and residence in Pontiac for 20 years, testified that he came to Kroger’s store for some things, and as they did not have everything he wanted he started to cross the street to the ice cream parlor; that this latter place was opposite and a little south from Kroger’s store; that as near as he could tell he was struck by the automobile near the west street car track; that he saw two automobiles going toward Detroit and that after they had passed he started to go to the opposite store; that before starting he looked both ways, but he did.not know anything about defendant’s car until it struck him. He described how he was thrown and that the car struck him a second time, and that the car when it stopped was on his hand and that the car had to be backed up before he could be removed. He described his injuries in detail; also testified that he had had a cataract removed from his right eye, and that after it had been removed, for a short time, he could see just as well out of that eye as he ever could.

Upon cross-examination he testified as follows:

“Q. Now, just before you were struck by the automobile you saw two. cars pass going towards Detroit?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. Did you, before crossing, look to the north and to your right?
“A. Sure, I looked both ways.
“Q. You looked both ways?
[583]*583“A. -Yes, sir.
“I was about four feet from the curbstone when one car passed me and I stopped and another passed me. I had only a little ways to go to cross the street. I think Saginaw street from curb to curb is between 40 and 50 feet. I was walking in a southwesterly direction as I crossed the street. I can hear the steam from that radiator from a distance of about ten feet.
“Q. Now, when you started across Saginaw street to go over to the ice cream parlor, you reached the first street car track all right, didn’t you?
“A. When I started to go over the second street car track—
“Q. Well, to get to the second street car track you had to cross the first one?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. And you did cross the first one?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
182 N.W. 49, 213 Mich. 579, 1921 Mich. LEXIS 597, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perkins-v-holser-mich-1921.