Waring v. Dubuque Electric Co.

192 Iowa 1240
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJanuary 17, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 192 Iowa 1240 (Waring v. Dubuque Electric Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waring v. Dubuque Electric Co., 192 Iowa 1240 (iowa 1922).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

This case grows out of the same state of facts involved in the case of Waring v. Dubuque Elec. Co., decided by us at the September term, 1921, and reported in 192 Iowa 508. The appellee and her husband were driving north in an automobile upon Locust Street in the city of Dubuque, and, at the intersection of said street with Thirteenth Street, the automobile came into collision with a street ear operated by the appellant, and appellee received the injuries complained of. The details regarding the collision and the facts and circumstances in connection therewith are set forth at length in the opinion in Waring v. Dubuque Elec. Co., supra, and it is unnecessary that we recite them again in this opinion. The appellee’s husband was driving the car at the time of the accident, and appellee was sitting with him in the front seat of the automobile. It was a foggy, misty, dark night.

[1242]*1242I. Appellant contends that the court should have directed a verdict for the appellant, on the ground that there was a failure to show any negligence on the part of the appellant com.pany. The only grounds of negligence submitted to the jury by the trial court were with regard to the failure of the appellant company to sound a gong or bell or to give other warning, as the car approached the intersection, and with regard to failure to have the car under proper control. Under the facts of the case, which are discussed at considerable length by us in the opinion in the companion ease, it is obvious that the question of whether or not the appellant was guilty of negligence in the matter charged was clearly a question for the jury; and the court did not commit error in overruling the appellant’s motion for a directed verdict on this ground.

l Negligence • negíigenc”7 passenger. II. It is strenuously urged that the court erred in failing to direct a verdict for the appellant on the ground that the appellee was guilty of contributory negligence. In the companion case, we held that the trial court erred ™ sustaining a motion to direct a verdict on the ground that the husband of appellee, who was driving the automobile at the time in question, was guilty of contributory negligence. We held that it was a question for the jury to determine whether or not, under the facts and circumstances described, the driver of the car was guilty of contributory negligence. There is no claim that there is any evidence in this case that in any way would charge the appellee with any higher degree of care than was required of her husband, who was driving the car at the time. We held that the question as to whether or not the driver was guilty of contributory negligence should have been submitted to the jury. It necessarily and logically must follow that it was not error in the instant case for the trial court to submit to the jury the question of whether or not the appellee herein was guilty of contributory negligence. The same degree of care is not required of a passenger riding in an automobile as is required of the driver of the car.

We recently had occasion to discuss the question of what constitutes contributory negligence on the part of a passenger in an automobile, in Bradley v. Inter-Urban R. Co., decided [1243]*1243June 25, 1921, and reported in 191 Iowa 1351. It is unnecessary tbat we reiterate wbat we therein said, or cite the authorities quoted in the opinion in said cause. Under the rule therein announced, the question as to whether or not the appellee in the instant case was guilty of contributory negligence was clearly one for the jury. See, also, Stoker v. Tri-City R. Co., 182 Iowa 1090.

2 Negligence- byí-JoSditío¿seaSfd side curtains. III. The appellee’s husband'was a witness in her behalf, and was asked whether or not it was customary and usual for automobiles driven on the streets of Dubuque at and before the ^me the collision to have the side curtains ™ Place- The question was objected to, as calling for an incompetent conclusion, with no foundation laid. The objection being overruled, the witness answered that it was usual to have the side curtains in place, and further, that this was done to keep out the wind and cold; that the purpose was to keep the wind and moisture and disagreeable, bad weather out of the eyes and face, and to protect persons in the car. Appellant urges that the reception of this evidence constitutes reversible error. The undisputed evidence shows that the injury occurred on a misty, foggy night, when there was much moisture in the air, and it was damp and cold. It also shows that, at the time of the injury, the appellee’s husband was driving the ear with the side curtains on. The curtains were largely composed of isinglass. At the time, the wind shield was closed. It is a matter of common knowledge that automobiles are generally driven with the side curtains on and the wind shield closed under weather conditions such as were described in this case. It was proper for the appellee to show the weather conditions and to explain why the car was being driven with the side curtains on and the wind shield closed. It was in no way prejudicial to the appellant to permit the evidence that the car was being driven in the ordinary and usual manner in which cars are driven under similar weather conditions. The evidence had a bearing upon the question of contributory negligence of the appellee, and was, we think, properly admitted. The matter was fully covered by proper instructions by the court.

[1244]*12448‘iStaScSs”'_ seuPof11‘power6to see and hear. [1243]*1243IY. Appellant complains that the court erred in refusing [1244]*1244to give Instruction D, asked by the appellant. In the requested instruction, the appellant asked that the court instruct the jury “that the plaintiff cannot deliberately deprive herself of the means of seeing or hearing an approaching street car.” The thought of the instruction as requested was that the jury could find that appellee, by riding in an automobile with the curtains down and the wind shield closed, had “deliberately deprived herself of the means of seeing or hearing the approaching street car.” It was not error to refuse to give the instruction as requested. The subject of the appellee’s contributory negligence and the question with regard to the condition of the automobile respecting the wind shield and the curtains were fully and carefully submitted to the jury by the instructions that were given, and it was not error to refuse to give this requested instruction.

4. Negligence: submitting unpleadecL assignment of negligence. V. It is urged that the court erred in giving Instruction 14. In this instruction, the court told the jury that one ground of negligence alleged by the appellee was that the motorman of the appellant’s car did not have the same under proper control, as he approached the intersection of Thirteenth and Locust Streets. The court told the jury that, in determining this question of proper control, it could consider the rate of speed at which it believed, from the evidence, the car was running as it approached the crossing; and that, if it found that the car was operated at an excessive rate of speed, and that because of such speed the motorman did not have it under proper control, then this allegation of negligence would be sustained.

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192 Iowa 1240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waring-v-dubuque-electric-co-iowa-1922.