Stickel v. San Diego Electric Railway Co.

195 P.2d 416, 32 Cal. 2d 157, 1948 Cal. LEXIS 210
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 1, 1948
DocketL. A. 20312
StatusPublished
Cited by55 cases

This text of 195 P.2d 416 (Stickel v. San Diego Electric Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stickel v. San Diego Electric Railway Co., 195 P.2d 416, 32 Cal. 2d 157, 1948 Cal. LEXIS 210 (Cal. 1948).

Opinions

[161]*161SCHAUER, J.

Plaintiff Harris Stiekel sued to recover damages for the death of his wife and for his own personal injuries resulting from a collision between a bus of defendant railway company driven by defendant Amos, its employe, and a pickup truck in which plaintiff was a passenger and which was being driven by Mrs. Stiekel. Defendants appeal from a judgment pursuant to a jury verdict for plaintiff and from an order denying their motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. We have concluded that their many claims of error do not justify a reversal.

The accident occurred at about 10:40 p. m. at the intersection of Twelfth and K Streets in the city of San Diego. The bus was proceeding south on Twelfth Street. According to defendant Amos its speed was between 22 and 24 miles an hour. Mrs. Stiekel was driving west on K Street. The following evidence supports the verdict: Mrs. Stiekel stopped at the east curb line of the intersection, looked to her right, shifted gears, and drove into the intersection. She did not look to her right again. The truck was nearly across the intersection, traveling approximately 6 and not more than 12 miles an hour, when Mr. Stiekel, who had not been “paying much attention” to traffic, “looked around and there were bright lights in front of our cab and that is the last thing I remember”; Mrs. Stiekel “must have seen it [the bus] because she tried to step on the gas. ” ( There was no motion to strike this opinion testimony of plaintiff; therefore it is to be considered in support of the verdict. 2 Cal.Jur. § 473, p. 804.) The bus driver sounded no warning. The left front of the bus struck the right door of the cab of the truck. The force of the impact was such that the bus pushed the truck nearly 170 feet from the point of impact. Two police officers arrived at the scene of the accident about 10 minutes after the collision. Shortly thereafter Amos, the bus driver, told them that “he did not see the Chevrolet [plaintiff’s pickup truck] at all until after he hit it, . . . until he felt the glass in his face.” ( This admission by Amos was received in evidence as against both defendants without objection. Defendants’ objection to other evidence of Amos’ admission, on the ground that it was “hearsay,” was “sustained as to the defendant . . . Railway Company and overruled as to the defendant' Amos, ’ ’ but there was no request that the jury be instructed that the evidence was not binding on the railway company. In any event the lack of such instruction [162]*162could not have prejudiced defendant company because the finding that Amos was negligent must be upheld, and any negligence of Amos is imputed to the company.)

The evidence above summarized is sufficient to support a.n inference that Amos’ negligent failure to watch for traffic crossing Twelfth Street was the legal cause of the collision. It does not, as defendants urge, establish as a matter of law that Mrs. Stickel negligently failed to yield the right of way as required by section 552 of the Vehicle Code and that such negligence contributed to cause the accident. Section 552 provides, “The driver of any vehicle which has stopped as required by this code at the entrance to a through highway shall yield the right of way to other vehicles which have entered the intersection from the through highway or which are approaching so closely on the through highway, as to constitute an immediate hazard, but said driver having so yielded may proceed and the drivers of all other vehicles approaching the intersection on the through highway shall yield the right of way to the vehicle so about to enter or cross the through highway.” The jury could have decided that when Mrs. Stickel started across the intersection she reasonably believed that the bus was not an immediate hazard.

Defendants introduced evidence tending to- show that both Mr. and Mrs. Stickel were intoxicated at the time of the accident. This evidence consists of testimony that the Stickels were in a barroom about half an hour before the accident, that Mrs. Stickel was then obviously intoxicated and Mr. Stickel was drinking, and that after the accident the odor of alcohol was on the breaths of Mr. and Mrs. Stickel. The evidence was introduced in support of the pleaded defenses that negligence of Mrs. Stickel proximately contributed to cause the accident and that plaintiff himself was negligent in riding with Mrs. Stickel when he knew or should have known that she was intoxicated and could not and would not drive with due care. Plaintiff testified on cross-examination that neither he nor his wife was in the above mentioned barroom on the day or night of the collision. He was not asked whether he or Mrs. Stickel was intoxicated or had been drinking prior to the accident. Defendants complain that the trial court refused to permit them to introduce other evidence which, they claim, would have tended to show that plaintiff and his wife were intoxicated at the time of the accident. In this respect, the record shows, defendants at no time made a proper offer [163]*163of admissible evidence; after several colloquies as to the sufficiency of defendants’ vague offers of proof and the admissibility of certain evidence which defendants suggested they wished to offer,

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Bluebook (online)
195 P.2d 416, 32 Cal. 2d 157, 1948 Cal. LEXIS 210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stickel-v-san-diego-electric-railway-co-cal-1948.