Rebholz v. Wettengel

248 N.W. 109, 211 Wis. 285, 1933 Wisc. LEXIS 236
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedApril 11, 1933
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 248 N.W. 109 (Rebholz v. Wettengel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rebholz v. Wettengel, 248 N.W. 109, 211 Wis. 285, 1933 Wisc. LEXIS 236 (Wis. 1933).

Opinion

Fritz, J.

It is undisputed that injuries were sustained by plaintiff while she was a passenger, on the afternoon of January 10, 1932, in a Ford sedan operated by the inter-[287]*287pleaded defendant, Norman Leonhard. While he was driving westward on the north half of highway No. 10, his automobile collided with a Dodge sedan, which, while being driven eastward by Carl Wettengel, skidded somewhat onto the north half of that highway. That highway had a twenty-foot-wide concrete surface, edged on each side by dirt shoulders, which were four to six feet in width, and beyond which there were ditches about four feet in depth. The collision occurred at or near a right-angled intersection of highway No. 10 with county trunk J, which extended north and south, and had a graveled surface twenty-eight feet wide. Highway No. 10 was icy and slippery in spots, including the intersection with highway J, and there was some snow on the shoulders of the road.

Conflicting evidence admits of inferences to the following effect: Wettengel, approaching the intersection at a speed of forty to sixty miles per hour, was about 600 feet back of a Ford coupé, driven by Mrs. O’Keefe, at thirty to forty miles per hour, when the latter applied the brake and began slowing down her car to fifteen miles per hour in order to turn off to her right onto highway J. Just before making that turn she noticed Leonhard’s car approaching on his right side of the road, 150 feet to the east of her. Wettengel did not notice that he was approaching the cross-road until he was 100 feet from the intersection. He did not notice that the stop light on the rear of Mrs. O’Kéefe’s car was put on several times. Neither did he see that Leonhard’s car was approaching until, as Wettengel’s car started skidding onto the north half of the road, he saw Leonhard’s car 100 to 150 feet away from his car. Wettengel’s car was two or three feet north of the black center line on highway No. 10 when the collision occurred. After the collision, Leonhard’s car, facing east, was eight to ten feet west of highway J, and was partly on the shoulder, and partly in the ditch on the [288]*288north side of highway No. 10. Wettengel’s car came to a stop east of highway J, with its front end on the south side and its rear end on the north side of the center line of highway No. 10. The testimony was conflicting as to whether it faced to the east or to the west.

Leonhard testified that he approached highway J at twenty-eight to thirty-two miles per hour, and that the collision occurred east of that highway, just after he had passed a white post, which was a foot and a half to the north of his car. He first noticed Wettengel’s car when it was approximately seventy-five to one hundred feet away from him, swinging out from in back of Mrs. O’Keefe’s car at about the west line of highway J. Thereupon he immediately took his foot oil the gas accelerator, applied his foot-brake three or four times, reduced his speed to the rate of twenty-two to twenty-five miles per hour, and, when fifty feet east of that white post, turned to the right and was going off the concrete on the north side, four feet west of that post, when the crash came. The impact did not occur at the intersection. Notwithstanding the impact, his car continued on until it crossed highway J, and went into the north ditch. Wetten-gel’s car, straddling the center line, came toward Leonhard’s car at an angle.

On the other hand, Wettengel testified that when he observed Mrs. O’Keefe’s car, which was about fifty feet ahead of him, slowing down suddenly and turning abruptly to the right, he applied his brake, about seventy-five feet west of highway J, when he was 100 to 150 feet from Leonhard’s car; and that Wettengel’s car started to slide eastward and somewhat to the north. He straightened it up at once but it began to slide again. He did not observe Leonhard change his course at any time after Wettengel started to skid, and he did not believe that any portion of Leonhard’s car was off the concrete at the time of the collision. The left front [289]*289corner of Wettengel’s car was struck, and its left front wheel was torn off. It traveled about forty feet after the impact, and came to a stop a little over thirty feet east of highway J. Leonhard testified that shortly after the collision Wettengel said, “It is all my fault, I lost control of my car;” and another witness testified also that Wettengel made a statement to that effect.

A passenger in Wettengel’s car testified that when Mrs. O’Keefe’s car started to turn into highway J, and he noticed its stop-light flash, it was fifty to seventy-five feet ahead of Wettengel’s car; that as soon as the latter applied the brakes, his car started to skid; that the left wheels of Leonhard’s car were about two or three feet from the center line of the concrete highway at the instant of the impact; that the left side of Wettengel’s car, after skidding, was possibly two or three feet over that line to the north; and that its left front corner was hit.

The jury found that the collision was caused by negligence of Wettengel in driving at an excessive speed, in not keeping a proper lookout, in following the O’Keefe car too closely, and in turning onto the left side of the highway; but that Leonhard was not negligent in respect to speed or keeping a proper lookout. Upon the verdict, judgment was entered which provided for the recovery by plaintiff from Wettengel of the damages assessed by the jury, and the dismissal of Wettengel’s cross-complaint against Leonhard for contribution.

The evidence fairly admitted of the jury’s findings that negligence on the part of Wettengel in the respects stated was a cause of the collision; and that Leonhard was not negligent in respect to speed and lookout. The jury’s findings in those respects have been approved by the learned circuit judge and cannot be disturbed on an appeal. However, there was no finding by the jury as to whether Leonhard was neg[290]*290ligent in the management and control of his automobile, although the submission to the jury of a question to that effect was expressly duly requested on behalf of Wettengel. In considering whether Wettengel was entitled to have that issue submitted as requested, the credible evidence must be given the most favorable construction and inferences which it fairly admits of, under any reasonable view, in support of' his contentions. Trautmann v. Charles Schefft & Sons Co. 201 Wis. 113, 228 N. W. 741. Under that rule, the evidence admits of inferences to the following crucial effect in relation to the issue of whether Leonhard was negligent in respect to management and control:

Wettengel’s car began skidding onto the north half of highway No. 10 when it was west of the highway J intersection, and Leonhard’s car was ISO feet to the east of Wettengel’s car. When Leonhard first saw Wettengel’s car skid onto the north half of highway No. 10, it was 100 feet from Leonhard’s car. Leonhard turned toward the north edge of the highway, when he was fifty feet east of a white post, which was east of the intersection, and the crash did not occur until he was four feet west of that post. Consequently, he traveled at least fifty-four feet fully aware of the danger because of Wettengel’s skidding car. He had time to take his foot off the accelerator, apply his foot-brake three or four times, and succeed in reducing his speed from twenty-eight to twenty-two miles per hour. On the other hand, Wettengel’s car skidded but two or three feet to the north of the center line of highway No. 10.

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Bluebook (online)
248 N.W. 109, 211 Wis. 285, 1933 Wisc. LEXIS 236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rebholz-v-wettengel-wis-1933.