Sharp v. Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Co.

187 N.W. 198, 176 Wis. 340, 1922 Wisc. LEXIS 198
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 14, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 187 N.W. 198 (Sharp v. Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Co.) 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
Sharp v. Milwaukee Electric Railway & Light Co., 187 N.W. 198, 176 Wis. 340, 1922 Wisc. LEXIS 198 (Wis. 1922).

Opinion

Eschweiler, J.

The accident happened early in the afternoon of a clear day. The deceased and his wife had driven from Milwaukee and desired to go to a farmer’s house on the west side of the interurban track of defendant. They had difficulty in locating the farm and had driven by [343]*343it twice, and made the last inquiry concerning it at what was known as the Ryan Road, about 1,365 feet north of the particular crossing. According to Mrs. Sharp’s testimony they drove slowly south from the Ryan road, and when they came to this driveway she turned to look north and also south and no street car was in sight in either direction; the automobile then turned to the west, and when, the rear part was still on the street-car tracks it was stalled for about a minute before the crash came, during which time her husband was shifting gears, and that she first saw the car when it was on the curve about two blocks to the south. A man who was driving his team from the south and just a short distance from the crossing at the time of the accident also testified, on plaintiff’s behalf, that the automobile was stopped a half a minute or so while the driver was doing something with the gear shifts.

Defendant’s motorman testified that the street car had stopped about 1,536 feet south of this point of collision at the Fitzsimmons road, and it then proceeded to the north until, at a point some 500 feet south of the particular crossing, he first saw the automobile approaching him from the north along the Chicago road, the concrete surface of which was about seven feet east of the street-car track.

He testified further that when he was about fifty to sixty feet south of the crossing in question the automobile turned from the concrete highway to the west to go in to the farm and that he immediately applied his 'brakes in an effort to stop, but was unable to do so in time, and that while the automobile was still in motion and had almost cleared the track the collision occurred, the automobile being turned almost squarely around and left on the side of the track, the street car proceeding about 300 feet further to the north before coming to a stop. His testimony that there was no stopping of the automobile on the track crossing and that it first turned in toward the west when the street car was about sixty feet to the south was supported by the testimony of [344]*344the conductor, who claims to have seen it while looking forward from the rear of the car, and by that of a passenger who was in the front end of the car.

It is urged on this appeal by the plaintiff that there should have been submitted on the issue of ordinary negligence questions as to whether the crossing was negligently maintained by defendant in violation of the town ordinance as to the requirements for such country crossings, and that there were errors in the charge of the court to the jury and in his rulings on the evidence, and further that the question of gross negligence should have been submitted to the jury.

By their answer to the first question of the special verdict the jury found that the automobile was stalled on the track prior to the collision. Such finding, therefore, was in accord with the testimony of Mrs. Sharp and the plaintiff’s other witness. Such finding necessarily disregarded the testimony of the three witnesses for the defendant on that point, who were each positive that the automobile did hot stop on its passage over the street-car track.

They also found by their- answer to the fourth question that there was no want of ordinary care proximately contributing to the collision on the part of Mr. Sharp, the driver of the automobile.

By their answer to the second question, however, they found that in the exercise of ordinary care the defendant’s motorman could not have discovered the position of the automobile on the street-car track in time to have avoided the collision.

Upon such verdict, in connection with the facts in the case, it is very strenuously argued on behalf of plaintiff that the verdict as rendered is inconsistent on its face and therefore could not support a judgment for the defendant, and that the new trial asked for by plaintiff should' have been granted. This on the theory that Mr. Sharp, having been found to have exercised ordinary care and therefore not having been at fault, and that the automobile as a matter of [345]*345fact was stalled from some unexplained cause and stationary on the street-car track for at least some appreciable time before the collision, the further finding that there was no negligence on the part of the motorman, the only other human agency that could be responsible for the collision, was necessarily inconsistent with the other findings or indicated the probability that the jury acquitted the motorman of ordinary negligence because they must have believed him to have acted with gross negligence.

If the jury, having found that plaintiff’s version, to the effect that the automobile did come to a stop while crossing the track, was true, were bound to accept the testimony of Mrs. Sharp or the other witness for plaintiff as to the length of time the automobile was so stalled, namely, from a half a minute to a minute or more, then the position taken by plaintiff on this appeal would undoubtedly be correct; for if the automobile was in fact stalled for half a minute, the street car, then going at the rate of thirty miles an hour, must necessarily have been more than a thousand feet to the'south of the place of collision where the automobile stopped. That then, it being conceded that the crossing was directly in front of and in plain sight of the motorman for at least '800 feet, and it further appearing from the undisputed testimony that the street car could be, because it was, stopped in about 300 feet from the point of applying the brakes, the motorman with the automobile in sight while going such distance of 800 feet must evidently have failed to use ordinary care in not stopping the car. Furthermore, such a situation would have made an issue for the jury as to whether there was not a wilful disregard by the motorman of the evident danger to the stalled automobile, which might have properly been found by the jury to amount to gross negligence had such question been submitted to them as requested.'

The difficulty here, however, is that .it was entirely a question for the judgment and discretion of the jury, after consideration of the evidence, to arrive at a reasonably [346]*346probable conclusion as to the real £tate of facts, although in so doing they would necessarily have to accept in part only as well as discredit in some particulars the testimony of the witnesses on both sides.

Estimates as to the precise length of time the automobile was stationary on the track are necessarily quite uncertain when considered in connection with all the facts and circumstances. For instance, Mrs. Sharp testified that it took them about three minutes to drive from the Ryan crossing, 1,365 feet north of the place of accident, and that they were driving slowly; yet if they had been going no more than ten miles per hour they would have covered that distance in less than two minutes, and at fifteen miles an hour it would have taken about one minute. The testimony of the other witness for. the plaintiff as to the distance he traveled with his team during the time he first saw the automobile approaching this crossing up to the time^of the collision, also afforded ground for a conclusion that he might have been mistaken in his estimate. Again, the fact that no effort was made by Mrs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
187 N.W. 198, 176 Wis. 340, 1922 Wisc. LEXIS 198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sharp-v-milwaukee-electric-railway-light-co-wis-1922.