Smith v. Stopher

261 N.E.2d 16, 125 Ill. App. 2d 378, 1970 Ill. App. LEXIS 1571
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 20, 1970
DocketGen. 69-87
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 261 N.E.2d 16 (Smith v. Stopher) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smith v. Stopher, 261 N.E.2d 16, 125 Ill. App. 2d 378, 1970 Ill. App. LEXIS 1571 (Ill. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

MORAN, P. J.

This two-count personal injury suit was filed in the Magistrate Division of the Circuit Court of Madison County by Robert W. Smith on behalf of Wesley Glenn Smith, a minor bicyclist, for personal injuries, and by Robert W. Smith, his father and next friend, for medical expenses against Richard D. Stopher, Administrator of the Estate of Cecil K. Stopher who died after the accident and before the trial. Defendant made appropriate motions for directed verdicts and for judgments notwithstanding the verdicts which were denied. Judgments were entered on verdicts of $2,500 for the minor bicyclist on Count I, and for $915.75 for his father on Count II for the minor’s medical expenses. Defendant appeals.

The only questions on appeal are whether there was sufficient evidence of negligence on the part of the motorist and sufficient evidence of due care on the part of the bicyclist to create questions of fact for the jury.

The accident occurred between a bicycle being ridden by Wesley Glenn Smith, then ten years of age, and a camper type truck of defendant’s intestate near the intersection of Olive and California Streets in Collins-ville, Elinois. These streets intersect at right angles with Olive Street running north-south and California Street running east-west. The surrounding area is residential and recreational. The back yard of the Helen Rarick residence is in the area adjacent to the northwest corner of the intersection. Her driveway extends from California Street at a point 58 feet west of the west edge of Olive Street. West of the driveway along the north side of California Street is a thirty mile per hour speed sign. Both California and Olive Streets are 21 feet wide. Across from the Rarick residence on the northeast corner of the intersection is Fletcher Field, a fenced sports playground with a frontage on Olive Street of at least 300 feet. This field has a ground level lower than Olive Street so that the fence presents no obstruction to the view when approaching the intersection from any direction. The level of Olive Street, as it approaches California from the north, is slightly upward. The level of California Street, as it approaches Olive from the east, is more sharply upward. These streets intersect at the crest of the hill formed by these two inclines.

Since the motorist died before trial, the minor plaintiff was precluded from testifying to the facts of the occurrence under the Dead Man’s Act (Ill Rev Stats 1965, c 51, § 2). Since there were no eyewitnesses to the actual collision, the case is based on circumstantial evidence.

Michael Motsinger, aged ten at the time of the accident and a schoolmate of the minor plaintiff, testified that on October 29 he was at Fletcher Field sitting on the sidelines watching a football game. He heard a woman on the corner holler and turned to look to his left over his shoulder and saw Wesley Smith falling from a bicycle while traveling in a westerly direction on the north edge of California Street. He indicated on a photograph and diagram of the intersection that Wesley fell at a spot approximately 30 to 35 feet west of Olive Street on the North side of California. At the same time he saw a truck, the back of which was six to ten feet in front of Wesley when he was falling. He did not see any impact between the truck and bicycle. After Wesley fell and got up, apparently unhurt, Mike turned around and continued to watch the football game. Shortly thereafter Mike’s father arrived at the scene of the collision and Mike later learned that it was his bicycle Wesley had been riding. The front wheel of the bicycle had been turned around and jammed under the frame, but there was no permanent damage.

Richard D. Stopher, son and administrator of the estate of Cecil K. Stopher, called under section 60 of the Civil Practice Act, testified to a conversation he had with his father about the accident sometime in December, 1966, as follows:

Q. “Had your father ever told you it was the bicycle of the boy that made the mark?”
A. “Only by implication.”
Q. “And how by implication, what was the nature of your conversation with him?”
A. “Well, we were just traveling along, we were talking about the accident and I asked him, inquired about it, and he showed me the corner where it happened, and I asked him where he had been hit, and he said in the back.”
Q. “Okay.”
A. “Then I investigated it later and I just assumed that’s what he meant where the bump was.”
Q. “So he told you he had been hit in the back, is that right?”
A. “Yes, sir.”
Q. “Did he tell you it was also on the right-hand side, right-hand back of his truck?”
A. “Yes.”

He testified that later he saw a dent in the right rear fender of his father’s truck, directly over the hub cap.

Wendell James testified that as a policeman for the City of Collinsville he investigated the bicycle-truck collision which occurred on October 29, 1966, at the intersection of Olive and California Streets. The accident occurred at about noon when it was dry and overcast. He arrived at the accident scene at least twenty minutes after its occurrence and it was apparent that the camper and bicycle had been moved from their positions at the time of the accident. He never did see the bicycle. He found no skid marks, debris or any other evidence indicating where the point of impact was. The speed limit in this area was 30 miles per hour. He found no indication of excessive speed. He did not know how the accident occurred, but Cecil Stopher told him at the time that Wesley Smith had run into his truck on the right side. He gave inconsistent statements concerning the distance of the truck from the intersection when he arrived at the scene of the accident, at one point stating that the truck was approximately 30 feet from the east edge of Olive Street, and at other points stating the truck was approximately 10 feet west of the speed sign, or approximately 130 feet east of Olive Street. He con-eluded by stating that he believed the truck was closer to the speed sign than the stop sign, but the truck was facing west on the north side of California. He spoke to Cecil Stopher, who was sitting in the rear seat of his police car, and he did not smell any liquor on his breath. He also testified that he has had occasion to drive on California Street in a westerly direction through the Olive-California intersection and that the incline is not so steep as to cause a driver’s view of a bicycle on Olive Street to be obstructed. He stated that one could even see the speed limit sign. This sign was located on the north side of California Street, 140 feet west of Olive.

Helen Rarick testified that she lives on the northwest corner of the intersection of Olive and California Streets and that at the time of the accident she was hanging clothes in her backyard. She did not see the impact. A pickup truck was stopped, heading west, and was west of her driveway. There was also a red station wagon parked on the other side of her driveway.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
261 N.E.2d 16, 125 Ill. App. 2d 378, 1970 Ill. App. LEXIS 1571, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smith-v-stopher-illappct-1970.