Ternes v. Giles

144 P. 1014, 93 Kan. 435, 1914 Kan. LEXIS 450
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedDecember 12, 1914
DocketNo. 19,041
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 144 P. 1014 (Ternes v. Giles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ternes v. Giles, 144 P. 1014, 93 Kan. 435, 1914 Kan. LEXIS 450 (kan 1914).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Benson, J.:

This appeal is from a judgment for damages caused by a collision between an automobile and a carriage and horse.

[436]*436In a former action brought by the defendant, owner of the automobile, against John P. Ternes, the plaintiff’s husband, the defendant recovered damages on a counterclaim for loss of his wife’s services and for injuries to his horse and carriage. (Giles v. Ternes, ante, p. 140, 143 Pac. 491.) In this action the wife sued for damages for pain and suffering and physical disfigurement. The circumstances of the collision are stated in the report of the first case and need not be detailed here.

The charges of negligence, briefly stated, are that the defendant drove his car in the nighttime, at an unlawful speed, and without sufficient lights, out of the traveled roadway into the plaintiff’s conveyance, thereby throwing her to the ground and causing the injuries for which damages are asked. The jury returned findings as follow :

*‘Q. 1. Was defendant driving his automobile at a rate of speed exceeding twenty miles per hour when the collision occurred? A. No.
“Q. 2. Did defendant exhibit on the automobile he was driving at the time of the collision, one or more lamps showing white lights unobstructed and visible within a reasonable distance in the direction towards which the automobile was proceeding? A. Yes.
“Q. 3. Was it dark at the time and place of collision ? A. Yes.
“Q. 4. Was defendant driving his automobile in a careful and prudent manner at the time and place of collision? A. Yes.
“Q. 6. Did defendant see or know of the approach of the buggy in which plaintiff was riding, before the collision occurred? A. No.
“Q. 7. Did the conveyance in which plaintiff was riding exhibit or show any lights or warning signals, at the time of the collision ? A. No.
“Q. 8. Did plaintiff see the lights exhibited on defendant’s automobile, before the collision occurred? A. Yes.
“Q. 9. If you answer question No. 8 in the affirmative, state whether or not there was sufficient time and a safe place for the driver of the conveyance in which plaintiff was riding, to have avoided the collision by [437]*437turning out to one side of the road, or otherwise? A. Yes.
“Q. 10. If you answer question No. 8 in the affirmative, state whether or not plaintiff, after seeing said lights and before the collision, advised or suggested to her husband that he be more cautious, or did she make any effort to avoid a collision with the vehicle displaying said lights? A. No.
“Q. 1. (By plaintiff.) Did the plaintiff and her husband upon seeing the light of defendant’s automobile turn out of the beaten path or roadway to the right? A. Yes.”

A motion for judgment on the findings was overruled, and judgment was rendered on the verdict for the plaintiff for $100. Error is assigned upon this ruling, and upon the instructions.

It will be observed that the findings negative any want of care on the part of the defendant except in relation to lights, and the failure to turn out on approaching the plaintiff’s carriage. The evidence .and instructions pertinent to these matters must therefore be considered. The following instruction was given:

“If you find that when the plaintiff and the defendant were approaching each other on the highway in' question, the plaintiff turned to the right of the center of the highway and the defendant did not turn to his right of the center of the highway but that part or all of his automobile was to the south of the center of the highway, and that the collision between the plaintiff and the defendánt occurred to the south of the center of the highway, and that by reason of the defendant’s being south of the center of the highway the collision took place and the plaintiff was injured, then you are instructed that such act by the defendant constituted negligence on his part. The center of the highway as used in these instructions means the center of the well-beaten track or roadway.”

From plaintiff’s testimony it appeared that while traveling east in her carriage about 10 o’ clock at night she noticed the lights of an automobile approaching from that direction. Her husband, who was driving, turned to the right. After the automobile passed on [438]*438to the west she noticed other lights approaching, and the carriage was again turned to the right until the right-hand wheels were in the ditch. She also «said that the car came upon them “in an angling direction to the southwest.” Her husband testified:

“As' soon as I saw the light I turned out of the road to the right and to the South. I turned out when I saw the first light. After a little I saw another dim light. All at once as it was just a short distance from me I seen it was an automobile and I hollowed to him if he couldn’t see us; by that time he just crashed into us. The automobile struck our buggy right back of the front wheel on the side. The left hand side of the automobile striking my front wheel back of the hub. My wife fell on the hood of the car and the collision j erked me on the other side of the ditch, in the grass there. I got up and saw Mr. Giles there, and I said, ‘Is that you, Mr. Giles?’ and he said, ‘Yes.’ I said ‘An old man like you ought not to go out with such lights on a car.’ And he said, T know, the other lights got out of fix, ain’t got them fixed yet.’ And he said, T know it is my fault, but can’t help it now,’ and he said, ‘With your white clothes on I thought that was the road.’ I examined the location of the accident next morning and could distinguish the tracks of my buggy at that time. I would judge that I turned out of the road a distance of 100 feet west of the point of the accident. I could also see the automobile tracks the next morning. The left front wheel of the automobile went right in the ditch, made a big gash in the ditch. I followed these tracks back where the automobile turned out of the road, and I think that it was about 25 or 30 feet from the ditch to the point of the road where the automobile turned out. The automobile was facing southwest when it stopped. The automobile track was pretty gradual turnout until it got pretty close to us. All at once he made a pretty sharp turn towards the buggy.”

It appears from the evidence of the defendant that there was a coal-oil light on each side of his automobile, but the headlights were not burning, being out of order. He testified:

“I would say that I was traveling at the rate of 6 or 7 miles an hour when the collision occurred. I did n’t see the rig in which plaintiff was riding before the [439]*439collision occurred. The first intimation I had was when we came together and I heard the glass fall. I saw a lady on the hood of the machine which after-wards proved to be Mrs. Ternes. That was the first I knew there was anybody near. At the time of the collision I was traveling in the center and main traveled track of the road, and I did not turn out of the main track of the road up to that time.”

An instruction like the one copied above was given in the former case (Giles v. Ternes, 93 Kan. 140,143 Pac.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
144 P. 1014, 93 Kan. 435, 1914 Kan. LEXIS 450, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ternes-v-giles-kan-1914.