Case Title: Letcher v. Derricott

Citation: 191 Kan. 596, 383 P.2d 533

Docket Number: 43,152

State: kansas

Court: Kansas Supreme Court

Date: 1963-07-10T00:00:00Z

Document:
191 Kan. 596 (1963)
383 P.2d 533
CATHERINE LETCHER, Appellee,
v.
RICHARD RUBIN DERRICOTT, Appellant.
No. 43,152

Supreme Court of Kansas.
Opinion filed July 10, 1963.
*597 J. Milton Sullivant, of Kansas City, argued the cause, and Lewis C. Smith, Gerald L. Rushfelt, Clifford T. Mueller, John R. Oliver, and William L. Roberts, all of Kansas City, were with him on the briefs for the appellant.
Charles S. Schnider and Joseph P. Jenkins, both of Kansas City, argued the cause, and Joseph Cohen, John E. Shamberg, Norma Braly, Barton P. Cohen, Jacob F. May, Jr., and Frederick K. Cross, all of Kansas City, were with them on the briefs for the appellee.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
HATCHER, C.:
This is an action for damages as the result of personal injuries suffered by a pedestrian when struck by an automobile.
The action was instituted by Mrs. Catherine Letcher, as plaintiff, against Richard Rubin Derricott, the owner and driver of an automobile which struck plaintiff as she was attempting to cross a street.
The petition alleges in substance that while the plaintiff was crossing Eighteenth Street in Kansas City, Kansas, at a point where Eighteenth Street is entered by Homer Street, she was struck by an automobile which was being carelessly, recklessly, and negligently operated by the defendant. The plaintiff was seriously injured. The usual grounds constituting negligent driving were alleged. The petition further alleges that plaintiff was not negligent in crossing the street, but that if it should be found that she was negligent, her negligence had ceased at the time of the injury, and that the defendant could have, with ordinary care, seen the plaintiff in a position of danger from which she could not extricate herself, and by the exercise of ordinary care avoided striking her. The prayer was for damages in the amount of $100,000 and costs.
The defendant answered denying that he was guilty of any negligence and stating that plaintiff was guilty of negligence which caused her injuries. The answer specifies the usual acts constituting negligence by a pedestrian crossing a street. The answer further alleges that the defendant was confronted with a sudden emergency not of his own making and that he attempted to exercise his best judgment to avoid colliding with plaintiff.
The jury answered special questions and returned a general verdict in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $50,000. The verdict was approved by the trial court. The defendant has appealed specifying twelve trial errors.
The appellant contends that the trial court erred in failing to sustain the demurrer to plaintiff's evidence, in failing to direct a *598 verdict for the defendant at the close of all of the evidence, and instructing the jury on the last-clear-chance doctrine for the reason that the plaintiff was guilty of negligence as a matter of law which was the proximate cause of, or contributed to, her injuries.
The contentions require a review of the evidence. The evidence will be considered in considerable detail, as most of the questions raised are affected by the facts to be presented.
Eighteenth Street runs north and south through the city of Kansas City, Kansas. At the area in controversy, it is sixty-four feet in width. Running through the center of the street is a medial strip approximately five inches or six inches in height and four feet wide separating the north and south bound traffic. Homer Street enters Eighteenth Street from the west and comes to an end forming a "T." This street is twenty-six feet three inches in width. Where Homer Street enters Eighteenth Street there is a break in, or an absence of, the raised medial strip for a distance of eighty-nine feet five inches for the purpose of permitting the north bound traffic on Eighteenth Street to turn onto Homer Street and for the eastbound traffic on Homer Street to turn onto Eighteenth Street going north. There was no marked cross-walk for pedestrians at the area in question.
On April 24, 1961, between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m., the appellee, a woman of approximately 55 years of age, started to cross Eighteenth Street from west to east. She was accompanied by her husband, some 75 years of age, and in ailing condition. They started to cross Eighteenth Street at a point north of Homer and proceeded to a point in the center of the street, a short distance south of the north break in the medial strip. The area was unusually well lighted by street lights and also by flood lights and spot lights at filling stations on both sides of the street. "The lighting condition in the area was pretty near next to daylight; just as clear as it would be during the day."
The distance from the 30 miles per hour speed limit sign on the east side of Eighteenth Street to the south edge of the space between the medial strips was 1100 feet.
The facts, as stated up to this point, are not in dispute. The remaining facts are in dispute to the extent that numerous, although honest, witnesses differ in what they saw at the scene of the accident. Before continuing with the disputed testimony, it will be well to pause here and consider the law which guides us in the consideration of the testimony on the questions involved.
*599 In reviewing a ruling on a demurrer to the evidence, this court does not weigh or compare contradictory evidence. It considers only such portions of the evidence as are most favorable to the party adducing it. It then considers such evidence in the light most favorable to the party against whom the demurrer is directed and gives it the benefit of all inferences that may be drawn therefrom. (Haga v. Moss, Administrator, 181 Kan. 171, 311 P.2d 281.)
The rule is stated in Reda v. Lowe, 185 Kan. 306, 342 P.2d 172, at page 311 of the opinion:
In Krentz v. Haney, 187 Kan. 428, 357 P.2d 793, it is stated:
In considering the demurrer to plaintiff's evidence and the motion for a directed verdict at the close of all the evidence, it must also be understood that the plaintiff invoked the last-clear-chance doctrine. If the plaintiff had by her own negligence placed herself in a position of peril from which she could not extricate herself, the defendant had the duty to exercise due care to avoid injuring plaintiff if he had a last clear chance to do so.
This also presents a question for the jury, and a reviewing court considers the evidence on demurrer under the same rules as those heretofore announced.
In Gibbs v. Mikesell, 183 Kan. 123, 325 P.2d 359, it was held:
In the opinion the court stated:
The use of the phrase "that plaintiff's negligence had ceased" has caused some confusion. The phrase means, and perhaps the better term is, "that the plaintiff had, by her own negligence, placed herself in a position of peril from which she could not extricate herself." If the plaintiff could extricate herself from the danger, and did not do so, her negligence had not ceased. If the plaintiff could not extricate herself from the danger, her negligence had ceased.
There is another rule of law pertaining to the last-clear-chance doctrine which is made applicable by the facts in this case. Some authorities restrict the application of the doctrine to cases where the defendant had actual knowledge of the plaintiff's peril. There are other authorities, including Kansas, which permit recovery where defendant had no actual knowledge of the peril but could have discovered it by the exercise of reasonable care. (65 C.J.S., Negligence, § 137d (2), page 770.)
In Leinbach v. Pickwick-Greyhound Lines, 138 Kan. 50, 23 P.2d 449, this court held:
The opinion reviewed the previous decisions of this court and stated, beginning on page 62 as follows:
With the guiding rules established, we will consider the more detailed evidence presented by plaintiff.
Appellee testified in substance that she reached the center of Eighteenth Street and stopped for her husband to catch up. She looked to the south and observed the headlights of a car down by the Turnpike. She could not tell how far it was. (The north end of the break in the raised medial strip is 668.5 feet from the Turnpike overpass.) The automobile was northbound and near the medial strip rather than the east curb line. She could not tell at what speed the car was traveling. She saw no other cars approaching. She took two steps to the east from the center of the medial strip. This placed her about two feet east of the medial area. She looked to the south and saw the car lights bearing down on her. She did not remember anything more.
Joseph M. Dodd, who was working at a filling station located west of Eighteenth and north of Homer Street, was called as a witness. His testimony, as narrated in the abstract, was in part as follows:
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Under the facts presented, it was for the jury to determine whether the appellee was guilty of contributory negligence in starting to cross a thirty-foot one-way traffic strip when she could see only one car approaching at a distance; whether the appellant started to reduce his speed in time; whether he used due care to see and avoid the plaintiff; whether he made proper use of the thirty-foot traffic strip; whether, by the exercise of ordinary care, he would have had a last clear chance to avoid striking appellee, and whether he exercised his best judgment to avoid the collision.
Appellant objects to specific instructions of the trial court on the last-clear-chance doctrine. The trial court instructed the jury as to the effect of contributory negligence and then added:
It then proceeded to instruct on the doctrine.
The appellant contends:
It should first be noted that the appellant, although objecting to any instruction being given on the last-clear-chance doctrine, made no objection to any specific instruction given. It is a well settled rule of this court that where no objection is made to the giving of an instruction and no request is made for its modification or clarification during the trial, a litigant cannot be heard to complain on appeal unless the instruction is clearly erroneous. (Jukes v. North American Van Lines, Inc., 181 Kan. 12, 309 P.2d 692; Boucher v. Roberts, 187 Kan. 675, 359 P.2d 830; Foley v. Crawford, 125 Kan. 252, 262, 264 Pac. 59.)
However, we see no error in the instruction as given under the facts in this case. The last-clear-chance doctrine presupposes contributory negligence on the part of the person injured. In 65 C.J.S., Negligence, § 137b, page 762, the rule is thus stated:
The appellant objects to the refusal of the trial court to admit in evidence the full report of the investigating police officer. The police officer arrived at the scene about eight mintues after the accident. He prepared an official report which is kept on file with the police department. The report consisted of three pages. The second page consisted of statements made by independent witnesses to the accident. The appellant attempted to introduce the full report as an exhibit. The court refused to permit the second page to be introduced. The appellant then withdrew the entire exhibit. He now contends that the full report should have been admitted in evidence as an official record, and also as part of the res gestae. The appellant relies on the case of Mulich v. Graham Ship By Truck Co., 162 Kan. 61, 174 P.2d 98, where it is stated:
The statute (G.S. 1961 Supp., 8-523 and G.S. 1949, 8-524 and 8-525) applies to reports by the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident. It was not intended to permit a police officer to take statements from third-party witnesses to be introduced in evidence under G.S. 1949, 60-2869 in violation of the hearsay rule.
The court found that the statements made to the police officer by the independent witness were not res gestae.
The trial court did not err in restricting the exhibit.
Other alleged trial errors have been examined, and they are found to be without substantial merit.
The judgment is affirmed.
APPROVED BY THE COURT.