Yost v. Johnson

206 P.2d 13, 91 Cal. App. 2d 849, 1949 Cal. App. LEXIS 1313
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 16, 1949
DocketCiv. 7603
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 206 P.2d 13 (Yost v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yost v. Johnson, 206 P.2d 13, 91 Cal. App. 2d 849, 1949 Cal. App. LEXIS 1313 (Cal. Ct. App. 1949).

Opinion

ADAMS, P. J.

Defendants have appealed from an order granting plaintiffs’ motion for new trial after a jury returned a verdict in favor of defendants in an action by plaintiffs to recover damages for the death of their 9-year-old son who was run over and killed by a trailer attached to a truck belonging to F. 0. and Katherine C. Johnson and driven by their employee, James L. Tull. The order of the court granting a new trial asserted that it was based upon the ground of “insufficiency of the evidence to justify the verdict, and that the verdict of the jury was contrary to the weight of the evidence. ’ ’

The accident happened in the town of Corning, about noon on September 12, 1947. At that time the truck and trailer, both loaded with lumber, were proceeding west on Solano Street. They had been running near the center white line of the street—which was 60 feet wide—until, as they approached an intersecting street (Sixth Street, which was 56 feet wide), Tull decided to park on the north side of Solano Street after crossing Sixth Street, for the purpose of having lunch. He therefore turned gradually toward the right while slowing down to park. The decedent, who was riding a bicycle, had been following the truck, and when it slowed down and gradually pulled to the right the boy also turned slightly to the right and gained a little on the trailer. Just across Sixth Street on Solano a car was parked, and as the boy reached the point between the truck and the parked car his bicycle began to wabble, whereupon he fell to the street and his head was crushed by the wheels of the trailer. The truck driver testified that while slowing down he looked in both his left and right hand mirrors but did not at any time see the boy on the bicycle.

*851 Respondents took the position that the truck driver should not have pulled to the right to park while the boy was riding his bicycle to the right of the trailer, and that by reason of the truck’s movement the boy was “sandwiched” in between the car parked at the curb and the trailer; and that the driver of the truck should not have pulled toward the curb unless he could do so with safety to traffic coming up on his right hand as the boy on the bicycle was doing. On the other hand appellants argue that since the driver at no time saw the boy, and had gradually pulled over, as he had a right to do, the boy, having had ample time and distance to observe the movements of the truck and trailer, was guilty of contributory negligence in not doing something to avoid being caught between the trailer and the parked car.

The question before us, then, is whether the trial court, in granting plaintiffs’ motion for a new trial, committed reversible error.

Our Supreme Court, in comparable cases, has frequently enunciated the rule governing appellate courts in passing upon such questions. For instance, it said in Brooks v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., 27 Cal.2d 305, 307 [163 P.2d 689] : “In passing upon a motion for a new trial based upon the insufficiency of the evidence, it is the exclusive province of the trial court to judge the credibility of the witnesses, determine the probative force of testimony, and weigh the evidence (People v. Sarazzawski, ante, p. 7 [161 P.2d 934]; Green v. Soule, 145 Cal. 96, 102 [78 P. 337]). In considering the sufficiency of the evidence upon such motion the court may draw inferences opposed to those drawn at the trial (Mercantile Trust Co. v. Sunset etc. Co., 176 Cal. 451, 456 [168 P. 1033]), and where the only conflicts consist of inferences deduced from uncontradicted probative facts, the court may resolve such conflicts in determining whether the case should be retried (Cauhape v. Security Savings Bank, 118 Cal. 82, 84 [50 P. 310]). It is only where it can be said as a matter of law that there is no substantial evidence to support a contrary judgment that an appellate court will reverse the order of the trial court. (See Dempsey v. Market Street Ry. Co., 23 Cal.2d 110, 113 [142 P.2d 929].)”

It also stated, in Williams v. Field Transportation Co., 28 Cal.2d 696, 698 [171 P.2d 722] : “An order granting a new trial upon the ground of the insufficiency of the evidence to sustain the judgment will not be disturbed upon appeal, unless there be a clear showing of abuse of discretion. ‘All presump *852 tions are in favor of the order and it will be affirmed if it is sustainable on any ground. (Mazzotta v. Los Angeles Ry. Corp., 25 Cal.2d 165, 169 [153 P.2d 338], and cases cited.) The trial court in considering a motion for new trial is not bound by a conflict in the evidence, and has not abused its discretion when there is any evidence which would support a judgment in favor of the moving party. ’ (Ballard v. Pacific Greyhound Lines, ante, p. 357 [170 P.2d 465].) Even if the evidence is uncontradicted, the trial judge may draw inferences from it contrary to those made by the jury, and it is his duty to resolve such conflicts in determining whether the issues should be retried. Only when, as a matter of law, there is no substantial evidence to support a contrary judgment, may an appellate court reverse an order granting a new trial. (Brooks v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 27 Cal.2d 305 [163 P.2d 689]; Mazzotta v. Los Angeles Ry. Corp., supra.) ”

In Hames v. Rust, 14 Cal.2d 119, at 124 [92 P.2d 1010], the Supreme Court also asserted: “When the motion is granted, as here, for insufficiency of the evidence, it is only in rare cases showing abuse of discretion that an appellate court will interfere because the trial judge must weigh all the evidence and determine the just conclusion to be drawn therefrom. (Hanlon Dry Dock & Ship. Co. v. Southern Pac. Co., 92 Cal.App. 230, 232 [268 P. 385].) It cannot be held that a trial court has abused its discretion where there is a conflict in the evidence or where there is any evidence which would support a judgment in favor of the moving party. ’ ’

This court, in the case of Kehlor v. Satterlee, 37 Cal.App.2d 116, 117 [98 P.2d 759

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Bluebook (online)
206 P.2d 13, 91 Cal. App. 2d 849, 1949 Cal. App. LEXIS 1313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yost-v-johnson-calctapp-1949.