Pooley v. Leith

255 N.W. 153, 62 S.D. 554, 1934 S.D. LEXIS 70
South Dakota Supreme Court·Decided June 14, 1934·No. File No. 7613.·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinions

RUDOLPH, J.

This action arises out of the same automobile accident involved in the case of Petteys v. Leith, 62 S. D. 149, 252 N. W. 18. La Verna Pooley, the plaintiff in this action, was riding in the car driven by Mrs. Roy Pooley, which was one of the cars in the accid'ent. The defendant, Leith, was the driver of the other car. The accident occurred on July 22, 1931, between 9 and 10 o’clock in the evening, about five miles south of Carthage, 5. D., when the cars driven by Leith and 'Mrs. Pooley collided. The case was submitted to .the jury solely upon the question of the negligence of Leith in the operation of his car, and no question of a gratuitous guest is involved, such as was involved in the Petteys’ Case. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff and this is an appeal from the judgment entered upon the verdict.

The principal contention of the appellant is that the evidence is not sufficient to support the verdict and judgment. There is no contention made in this case that the verdict of the jury might be justified upon the theory that concurring acts of negligence on behalf of Leith and Mrs. Pooley constituted the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries, nor was the case submitted to the jury upon such a theory, but, as stated above, the sole issue submitted to- the jury was the negligence of Leith. In reviewing the evidence, therefore, our inquiry is limited to a consideration of its sufficiency to establish that Leith was negligent and that his negligence was *556 the proximate cause of plaintiff’s injuries. Respondent relies upon three alleged acts of negligence on the part of Leith- in the operation of his car: First, an unlawful and negligent rate of speed; second, driving on the wrong side of the highway; and, third, operating his car with unlawful lights which were glaring and blinding.

There is a direct conflict in the evidence on the question of the speed of appellant’s car at the time of the accident. Calvin Petteys testified appellant was driving forty-five or fifty miles an hour just shortly before the collision and that at the time of the accident “we hadn’t slowed up much.” Another witness testified: “1 asked him (appellant) how fast he was driving and he said forty-five or fifty miles an hour.” We think the evidence ample to justify a finding by the jury that at the time of the accident appellant was driving at a rate of speed in excess of forty miles an hour. However, it is clear, as pointed out in the case of Petteys v. Leith, supra, that the speed of appellant’s car standing alone could not be the proximate cause of the accident and resulting injury. Had both cars maintained their proper position on the highway, there would have been no accident regardless of the speed of appellant’s -car.

This brings us to the second alleged act of negligence on behalf of appellant; that is, driving on the wrong side of the road. In the case of Petteys v. Leith, supra, we said: “The evidence conclusively shows that, when the collision occurred, appellant’s (Leith’s) car was being driven on the right-'handi side of the road.” That statement, of course, is confined to- the record made in the prior case, and has no binding effect in our consideration of this case. Calvin P'etteys, the- plaintiff and a witness in the prior case, was called by the plain-tiff as a witness in this case. Petteys was not asked upon direct examination regarding the position- of the two cars upon the highway at the time of the accident, but he was permitted to- testify upon cross-examination, as follows:

“Q. Well, coming down the road and before the accident, was Mr. Leith -driving on his own side of the road)? A. I think we were driving on our own side pretty close to the center o-f the road. I wasn’t driving so I didn’t watch the road but that is my recollection of it. Mr. Leith was on his own side of the road at the time of the accident.”

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Pooley v. Leith, 255 N.W. 153, 62 S.D. 554, 1934 S.D. LEXIS 70 (S.D. 1934).

255 N.W. 153 (Pooley v. Leith) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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