Case Title: Dahl v. Klampher

Citation: 427 P.2d 709, 71 Wash. 2d 203

Docket Number: 38865

State: washington

Court: Washington Supreme Court

Date: 1967-05-11T00:00:00Z

Document:
71 Wn.2d 203 (1967) 427 P.2d 709 MARIE DAHL, Individually and as Executrix, Appellant, v. MIKE KLAMPHER et al., Respondents.[*] No. 38865. The Supreme Court of Washington, Department Two. May 11, 1967. Lawrence S. Cleman, for appellant. Dano, Cone & Fraser, by H.K. Dano, for respondent. *204 DONWORTH, J. This is an appeal from the dismissal of appellant's case at the close of all the evidence in an action for injuries and wrongful death. Appellant, the widow of the decedent, Niels Dahl, instituted this action individually and as executrix of the estate against respondent. For purposes of this opinion the term respondent will be used to refer only to respondent husband. The trial was commenced before a jury on November 17, 1965. Mr. Dahl died as the result of injuries sustained when he was knocked down and run over by respondent's automobile when he was allegedly a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Respondent had stopped his car for a red traffic control light at an intersection and was executing a right-hand turn at a speed of 2 or 3 miles per hour when he struck the decedent. The trial court, in the formal order of dismissal, ruled that, as a matter of law, the evidence did not warrant a verdict for appellant and, further, that the decedent was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. A motion for a new trial was later made and denied. On these rulings of the trial court, appellant has based his five assignments of error. A distinguishing characteristic of this case is the dearth of evidence as to exactly what did happen. None of the several witnesses who testified at the trial saw the decedent at any time prior to the time of contact between his body and respondent's 1954 Cadillac automobile. Hence, there is no direct testimony or evidence as to the direction in which Mr. Dahl was walking, or precisely where he was immediately prior to the accident. Respondent husband, who was driving the car, described the accident as follows: *205 The following facts are not in substantial dispute. The accident occurred at approximately 1:15 p.m. on November 2, 1964, in downtown Ellensburg, at the intersection of Pearl Street, which runs north and south, and 4th Street, which runs east and west. The distance between curbs on both streets is 48 feet. There are four marked pedestrian crossings, each approximately 8 1/2 feet wide one on the east side of, and parallel to, Pearl Street, running north and south, and one on the west side of Pearl Street; one on the north side of, and running parallel to, 4th Street, running east and west, and one on the south side of 4th. Three feet before approaching traffic would reach each of these pedestrian crosswalks, there is a marked stop line for cars. The intersection is controlled by traffic lights which are set for 26 seconds on green, 4 seconds on yellow, and 30 seconds on red. There was evidence that respondent, a 79-year old blacksmith, was traveling south on Pearl Street. When his car was about 150 feet from this intersection, he noted that the light for north-south traffic on Pearl Street was red. He came to a full stop, paused momentarily, and then proceeded around the corner to the right and into the first parking stall on the north side of 4th Street. As he rounded the corner and passed across the west pedestrian crosswalk (which ran north and south across 4th Street), his automobile passed over the body of Mr. Dahl. Mr. Dahl, who was 76 years old at the time of the accident, died 1 month later, on December 3, 1964, as a result of the injuries sustained in this mishap. Immediately following the passage of respondent's automobile over Mr. Dahl, the body was lying in the north-south crosswalk about 6 to 8 feet from the northwest curb, and about 2 feet from the eastern line of the 8 1/2-foot-wide north-south crosswalk. The evidence that the light for north-south foot traffic was red at the time of contact is not disputed. The trial court, in granting respondent's motion for dismissal, orally stated: [1] This court has held that, in reviewing a trial court's ruling that a plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law, we must accept as true that view of the evidence most favorable to plaintiff. Baxter v. Greyhound Corp., 65 Wn.2d 421, 397 P.2d 857 (1964). Appellant proposes three rather engaging theories under which decedent might have been lawfully in the intersection under these circumstances. We need discuss only one. Appellant argues that the decedent may have entered the crosswalk from the south side of Pearl Street at a time when the light was green, and that the light changed to red during the decedent's progress across the lane. He points out that this court has held that a person entering a crosswalk upon a favorable light, may lawfully continue until he completes his crossing even though the light may change to red in the interim. Lanegan v. Crauford, 49 Wn.2d 562, 304 P.2d 953 (1956); Fedland v. Teshera, 40 Wn.2d 256, 242 P.2d 751 (1952). This argument, if supported by evidence or reasonable inference therefrom, raises a factual issue as to whether decedent entered the crosswalk at a time when the light was green. In support of his theory, appellant introduced evidence showing that decedent had purchased some drugs from a store located on Pearl Street three quarters of a block to the south of 4th Street just minutes before the accident occurred. The drugs were found in the pocket of the decedent following the accident. Appellant argues that it is reasonable to infer that decedent was returning from the drugstore to his automobile, which was parked on the north *207 side of 4th Street to the east of the intersection, and would, therefore, be crossing 4th Street in a northerly direction. Since he was struck by respondent's automobile within about 6 to 8 feet of the northwest curb, he would have walked a distance of approximately 42 feet after entering the crosswalk before he was struck. A witness, Mamie Westphall, who was standing on that northwest curb awaiting a green light so she could proceed south across 4th, testified that: It would thus appear that the light changed to green for north-south traffic after respondent's car pulled into the parking stall. At an estimated 2 miles per hour, it would have taken respondent's car approximately 8 seconds to reach the parking stall from the point of impact. Deducting this 8 seconds from the time that must have elapsed since the last green light (4 seconds on yellow and 30 seconds on red), it follows that, to have entered the crosswalk lawfully, decedent must have entered the crosswalk more than 26 seconds previous to impact. It would seem plausible that a man of 76 would walk no more than 42 feet in 26 seconds. We do not find appellant's theory in the least unreasonable.[2] Respondent opposes this theory first on the ground that there is no direct evidence as to the direction in which decedent was traveling across the crosswalk. While this is true, from the facts that decedent's car was parked north of *208 the point of impact, and that he had made a purchase in a drugstore south of the point of impact just a few minutes before, the jury could reasonably infer that decedent was traveling in a northerly direction. A second ground for opposing appellant's theory is based on the position of the body of decedent after the accident. His head was pointing south, and his feet pointed north, thus indicating, according to respondent's argument, that he was traveling south when he was struck. If he had been traveling south, of course, it would strongly indicate that he had entered the crosswalk against a red light since he was struck just 6 feet from the north curb. But we find nothing in the position of the body after decedent had been struck by respondent's automobile to logically demonstrate the direction decedent had been traveling before he was struck or confronted by the oncoming automobile. [2] This court, in McQuillan v. Seattle, 10 Wash. 464, 465, 38 Pac. 1119 (1895), set forth the applicable rule, providing that: In view of the foregoing discussion, it cannot be said that the evidence, along with reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, is of such a nature that reasonable minds could not differ as to the conclusions to be reached. The case *209 presents, therefore, on the issue of contributory negligence of the decedent, not a question of law for the court, but a question of fact for the jury. It was error to rule that, as a matter of law, decedent was guilty of contributory negligence. However, there remains to be considered the trial court's alternate ground for dismissing the action, to wit, that there was insufficient evidence of primary negligence for the case to go to the jury. First, we note that, in respondent's pretrial deposition, which was read into evidence at the trial, he testified as follows: However, a number of witnesses to the accident testified that they had seen the automobile actually pass over the body of the decedent. This issue of fact was for the jury to decide. Secondly, we note that RCW 46.60.230 provides, in part, that: As we have heretofore stated, the evidence is such that the trial court was in error in ruling that, as a matter of law, decedent was not lawfully within the adjacent crosswalk at the time respondent made his right-hand turn through the red light. If the jury were to find, as a fact, that *210 decedent was lawfully within the crosswalk, it could find, as well, that respondent was negligent in failing to proceed with the requisite degree of caution and to yield the right of way as required by the statute cited above. [3] In Kemalyan v. Henderson, 45 Wn.2d 693, 697, 277 P.2d 372 (1954), this court stated that: We do not intend to intimate that, on a retrial of this case, the trial court or the jury must accept as verities the theory or the evidence discussed in this opinion as urged by appellant. They are discussed solely for the purpose of illustrating that there is, in this case, "evidence" or "reasonable inference from evidence," which, if believed by the jury, would sustain a verdict for appellant. The trial court's order of dismissal is reversed and the cause is remanded for a new trial on all issues. FINLEY, C.J., HUNTER, J., and LANGENBACH, J. Pro. Tem., concur. [*] Reported in 427 P.2d 709. [1] The trial court's reference here to "defendant" is rather confusing. The ruling was that the decedent was in the crosswalk unlawfully, and hence was guilty of contributory negligence as a matter of law. We feel, as respondent argued before this court, that the trial court meant the decedent rather than the defendant in the statement quoted. [2] We further note that Mamie Westphall, standing on the northwest curb, testified that she did not see decedent prior to the time the automobile passed over his body. Witnesses standing on the southwest curb, also waiting for a green light, testified that they did not see decedent before he was struck by respondent's auto. The testimony is thus consistent with appellant's theory that the decedent departed from the southwest corner before the witnesses arrived there (i.e. while the light was still green) and had not arrived at the northwest corner prior to the accident.