Title: Califf v. Norman

State: oregon

Issuer: Oregon Supreme Court

Document:

Affirmed April 17, 1957.
*199 Dale Jacobs argued the cause for appellant. On the brief were Uney & Jacobs, Oregon City.
Glenn R. Jack, Oregon City, argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief was James O. Goodwin, Oregon City.
Before LUSK, Presiding Justice, and ROSSMAN, WARNER and KESTER, Justices.
AFFIRMED.
ROSSMAN, J.
This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the circuit court which awarded the plaintiff $10,000 damages for personal injuries which he claims he sustained through the negligence of the defendant. The judgment was based upon a verdict. The defendant-appellant presents four assignments of error. Before considering them we will state some general facts.
November 7, 1952, 7:15 a.m., while the plaintiff was driving his car northerly on Highway 43 in Clackamas county, he entered the intersection of that thoroughfare and Cummings Hill road. The defendant's car had already entered the intersection and as the plaintiff's car drew alongside upon the left for the purpose *200 of passing the defendant's, the latter turned to the left and in that manner the collision occurred which underlies this action.
1. The first assignment of error is based upon the following instruction which was given to the jury:
This language closely parallels the following excerpt from Brown v. O.W.R. & N. Co., 63 Or 396, 128 P 38:
That passage received approval in Baker v. State Industrial Accident Commission, 128 Or 369, 274 P 905, and Ludwig v. Zidell, 167 Or 488, 118 P2d 1073.
The exceptions taken by the defendant-appellant to the instruction follow:
The case at bar presents no conflict between causes of injury similar to that in the time honored Squib Case (Scott v. Shepherd, 2 W. Blackstone's Reports *201 892). No contest exists in the instant case between causes, one remote and another immediate, or between one which is near at hand and another removed. In truth, the chief issue between the parties at the trial did not bear upon the proximity of any cause, but upon the countercharges of negligence. The plaintiff charged that the defendant was negligent, and the defendant retaliated with a like charge against the plaintiff. It soon became evident that their acts, whether negligent or otherwise, merged and brought the two cars together, resulting in the plaintiff's injuries. Manifestly, their acts were simultaneous. It cannot be said that the act of either was remote, either in time or place, and the act of the other immediate. The issues between the parties did not draw out the distinctions which sometimes call for detailed instructions upon the subject of proximate cause.
There is nothing mysterious in the law's treatment of the cause of an injury. Although a Squib Case rarely presents itself, it is routine with some trial judges to instruct the jury in every negligence action as though all cases of that kind involve several possible causes, none of them equal in time and space to any of the others. Generally, however, proximate cause is dependent upon the facts of the particular case. Restatement of the Law, in an effort to rid "cause" of the successive layers of patina imparted to it by the many definitions of "proximate cause," has discarded the latter term and adopted the phrase "legal cause."
We do not believe that the jury had any difficulty, after hearing the challenged instruction, in understanding that proximate cause means the wrongful act which inflicted the injury. Certainly, the attacked instruction can very successfully cope with the exceptions. We dismiss the first assignment of error as lacking in merit.
*202 2. The second assignment of error is based upon the refusal of the trial judge to instruct the jury that it is the duty of a motorist
The highway upon which the collision occurred is a through road; that is, stop signs are posted at all entryways to it. It is paved to a width of two lanes separated from each other by a yellow line. The roadway is straight for a long distance as the motorist approaches Cummings Hill road from the south, being the direction from which the plaintiff and the defendant came. The plaintiff swore that on the morning of his accident visibility was "very good." He avowed that he was thoroughly familiar with the road and that he drove along it every day on his way to his place of employment in Portland. He swore that he saw the defendant's car for some time before he undertook to pass it. According to his account, he observed two cars ahead of him as he approached the intersection where he was destined to meet with the mishap. The defendant's car was ahead of the other. The plaintiff claimed that when he had drawn near the first of the two, he sounded his horn and passed it. Shortly, when the front of his car was opposite the rear left fender of the defendant's, the plaintiff undertook to pass it. At that time, according to him, the defendant's car was about two feet east of the center line of the pavement. He was positive that he (plaintiff) sounded his horn. When the plaintiff was in the position just described, "I noticed a car door opening," so he said, and simultaneously *203 the defendant turned his car sharply to the left and the impact occurred. By "a car door opening" the plaintiff referred to the defendant and the left front door of his car. The defendant did not look to the rear or to the left before he undertook to turn. He depended upon his rear-view mirror in which he saw three cars to his rear. He did not believe that he gave a signal by opening his door  his words were "I believe I signaled with my arm," but the record warrants a belief  if the jury drew one to that effect  that the glass to the left of the defendant was virtually shut. The defendant acknowledged that in his accident report he wrote that he signaled with his door. If we have not discerned the facts correctly, counsel will have to assume much of the blame. A blackboard was employed during the trial and the successive witnesses placed upon it portrayals of the evidence, but the blackboard is not before us. In behalf of the assignment of error, the defendant's brief argues:
The foregoing review of the evidence indicates that the plaintiff maintained a lookout and saw the defendant, not only at the crucial moment, but also for some distance before the cars reached the intersection. Thus, we see that the plaintiff freely charged himself with notice of the defendant's presence upon the highway, and even with knowledge of the "car door opening." The defendant's brief calls attention to nothing substantial *204 which the plaintiff failed to observe. The instructions told the jury:
The words were taken from ORS 483.308(3).
Although we believe that in cases such as this one, the jury should be told that a motorist must maintain an adequate lookout, we do not think that the omission so to do in this instance constitutes an error "substantially affecting the rights of the appellant" within the purview of ORS 19.120. We do not sustain this assignment of error.
3. The third assignment of error is based upon the refusal of the trial judge to give to the jury the following instruction which the defendant requested:
ORS 483.126 says:
In Minugh v. Royal Crown Bottling Co. (Tex Civ App), 267 SW2d 861, the facts were substantially similar to those in the case at bar. When the plaintiff's motorcycle and the defendant's truck were approaching an intersetcion from the same direction, the plaintiff undertook to pass the truck to the left. At the juncture the truck turned to the left without giving a signal, and a collision occurred. In summarizing the effect of traffic regulations, the decision, referring to the truck driver, said:
From Zint v. Wheeler (Ky), 169 A 52, we take the following:
From McWright v. Providence Telephone Co., 47 RI 196, 131 A 841, we take the following:
We find no merit in this assignment of error.
4. The fourth assignment of error is based upon an instruction given to the jury, the substance of which is "the indicated speed is fifty-five miles per hour." The reference was to the scene of the accident. The exception follows:
ORS 483.104 provides:
ORS 483.002 says:
ORS 483.020 follows:
We have read the testimony with extreme care, but found it couched in terms so dubious of import that no finding could have been made that the area was either residential or business in character. Accordingly, the trial judge could not do other than give to the jury the third of the above alternatives. However, the instructions also gave to the jury the basic speed rule in the very words of ORS 483.102.
The above disposes of all assignments of error adversely to the appellant.
The judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.