Smith v. CITY OF INDPLS., ETC.

199 N.E.2d 722, 136 Ind. App. 616, 21 A.L.R. 3d 260, 1964 Ind. App. LEXIS 215
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 2, 1964
Docket19,634
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 199 N.E.2d 722 (Smith v. CITY OF INDPLS., ETC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. CITY OF INDPLS., ETC., 199 N.E.2d 722, 136 Ind. App. 616, 21 A.L.R. 3d 260, 1964 Ind. App. LEXIS 215 (Ind. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinion

Carson, J.

Appellant instituted an action against the appellees in the trial court under §2-217, Burns’ 1946 Replacement, for damages in the amount of $50,000.00, for the death of appellant’s unemancipated twelve year old son.. Damages were allegedly caused by the appellees’ negligence which resulted in a collision between the front of decedent’s bicycle and the right *618 side of a sanitation truck which the appellee, Boyd, was driving. Appellee, Boyd, was a sanitation truck driver for the City of Indianapolis and the appellant included as defendants the City of Indianapolis and its various sanitation agencies with some of their associated members.

After preliminary motions the appellant filed his third amended complaint against all of the defendants and to this third amended complaint the City of Indianapolis and its sanitation agencies demurred and the trial court sustained the demurrer. The appellant refused to plead over as to these defendants and allowed judgment to go against him as to them. The trial court’s ruling on said demurrer is one of the errors assigned in this appeal. The issues remaining as to the defendant, Boyd, were presented by the fourth amended complaint and by the answer of denial thereto under Rule 1-3 of The Supreme Court of Indiana. There was a trial by jury as to the defendant, Boyd, and the jury returned a verdict for said defendant.

Assigned as error by the appellant was the overruling of appellant’s motion for new trial and for sustaining the demurrer of the City of Indianapolis and its various sanitation agencies to appellant’s third amended complaint.

The appellant filed his motion for a new trial and alleged five errors by the trial court which are substantially as follows: 1. The court erred in sustaining the demurrer of the defendants, City of Indianapolis and its various sanitation agencies to appellant’s third amended complaint. 2. The court erred in giving over plaintiff’s objection, each of instructions 4 through 7, inclusive, 9, 11, 13, 16, 17, 19 and 22, asked by the defendant. 3. The court erred in refusing to give each *619 of instructions numbers 1,4, 5, 7, 9 through 12, asked by the plaintiff. 4. The court erred in refusing to permit the father of the deceased boy to testify on direct examination as to what he calculated it cost him to raise his deceased son from the time he was born until his death and in sustaining the objection of defendant’s counsel to such testimony on the grounds that such question merely called for the father’s guess as to the expenses. 5. The court erred in refusing testimony of the father on direct examination and in sustaining defendant’s counsels objection to the question propounded to the father which ask for his estimation as to what it would have cost to keep his deceased son from the time he was twelve years old until he was twenty-one.

Under appellant’s assignment number one in the argument portion of the brief, appellant alleges error by the court in refusing to give appellant’s instruction 1, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 through 12. The appellant did not brief and argue the alleged error of the trial court in refusing to give appellant’s tendered instruction number 9 and the giving of defendant-appellee’s instructions numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 16, 19 and 22, over plaintiff-appellant’s objection, therefore these specifications are waived.

The appellant also charges that the court erred in refusing to give appellant’s instruction number 1 based on §47-2229 (a) Burns’ 1952 Replacement, which instruction reads as follows:

“The Court instructs you that at the time plaintiff’s son was killed there was in full force and effect a statute of the State of Indiana which insofar as material is as follows:
‘Horns and warning devices. — (a) Every motor vehicle When operated upon a highway shall be equipped with a horn in good working order and capable of emitting sound audible under normal *620 conditions from a distance of not less than two hundred (200) feet, but no horn or other warning device shall emit an unreasonable loud or harsh sound or a whistle. The driver of a motor vehicle shall when reasonably necessary to insure safe operation give audible warning with his horn but shall not otherwise use such horn when upon the highway.’
If you find from a preponderance of all the evidence that the defendant did not comply with that statute, such failure on his part was negligence.”

The court did give appellant’s instruction number 2 which was based on §47-513, Burns’ 1952 Replacement which reads as follows:

“The Court instructs you that at the time plaintiff’s son was killed there was in full force and effect a statute of the State of Indiana which insofar as material is as follows:
‘ . . . upon approaching an intersecting highway or curve or a corner in a highway where the operator’s view is obstructed, every person driving or operating a motor vehicle or motorbicycle shall slow down and give a timely signal with the bell, . horn or other device for signalling.’
If you find from a preponderance of all the evidence that the defendant did not comply with that statute, such failure on his part was negligence.”

In the case of Connor v. Jones (1945), 115 Ind. App. 660, 679, 59 N. E. 2d 577, the court was considering the same sections of the statute and made the following statements:

“These two statutes are not incompatible. The first”, (§47-513, Burns’ 1952 Replacement), “is a special statute detailing circumstances under which a signal must be given while the second”, (§47-2229(a), Burns’ 1952 Replacement), “is general in its character and applies only to circumstances not covered by the first. Each can be given full force and effect without doing violence to the other. The *621 instruction under discussion is applicable to the appellee’s theory of the case and to evidence in support thereof and, therefore, was properly given.”

This case was cited with approval in Ft. Wayne Transit, Inc. et al. v. Shomo, etc. (1957), 127 Ind. App. 542, 558, 143 N. E. 2d 431. The undisputed evidence in the case before us indicates that the accident occurred at an intersection of two alleys. Due to the location of the buildings at the intersection the points of view of both plaintiff’s-decedent and the defendant were obstructed and had the effect of being a blind intersection. We feel considering the above cases, reviewing the statutes and the facts of this particular case that no error was committed when the trial court refused to give appellant’s instruction number 1 and that appellant’s instruction number 2 fairly placed the matter before the jury. Considering the instructions as a whole it is our opinion that the jury was fairly charged with respect to the questions of statutory responsibility and negligence and that there was no error in refusing to give appellant’s instructions 4, 5, 7 and 10.

The case of Luther v. State of Indiana (1912), 177 Ind. 619, 623, 98 N. E.

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265 N.E.2d 57 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1970)
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216 N.E.2d 863 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1966)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
199 N.E.2d 722, 136 Ind. App. 616, 21 A.L.R. 3d 260, 1964 Ind. App. LEXIS 215, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-city-of-indpls-etc-indctapp-1964.