Case Name: Koniecko, Appellant, vs. Huffman, Respondent
Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Wisconsin
Decision Date: 1953-11-03
Citations: 265 Wis. 79
Docket Number: 
Parties: Koniecko, Appellant, vs. Huffman, Respondent.
Judges: 
Reporter: Wisconsin Reports
Volume: 265
Pages: 79–84c

Head Matter:
Koniecko, Appellant, vs. Huffman, Respondent.
October 6
November 3, 1953.
For the appellant there was a brief by Reuben A. Gorsky, attorney, and Baumblatt, Hardy & Storms of counsel, all of Racine, and oral argument by L. P. Baumblatt.
For the respondent there was a brief by Heft, Brown, Stewart & Coates of Racine, and oral argument by Glenn R. Coates.
Motion for rehearing denied, without costs, on December 30, 1953.

Opinion:
Fritz, C. J.
The action brought by the plaintiff Olympia C. Koniecko was to recover damages sustained by her as the result of the death of her husband in a collision on Highway 32 between an automobile operated by plaintiff's husband and a motor tractor-trailer combination operated by the defendant Brady Huffman on Highway 32. At the place of the accident there was a concrete highway, consisting of three 10-foot lanes running north and south; and in addition to said 30-foot-wide concrete, there was a seven-foot-wide shoulder on each side of the concrete. On the west side of the highway there was the Sampsell farm with an eight-foot-wide driveway running in an easterly and westerly direction, that widened in a V shape to 32 feet wide as it reached the 30-foot-wide concrete highway. That highway sloped downgrade from a point 850 feet north of the Sampsell driveway to a point 1,000 feet south of said driveway; and the area zoned there as to speed was limited to 50 miles per hour.
The over-all length of Huffman's tractor-trailer combination was 42 feet. He had just loaded some hay, which he purchased from Roger Green at the Sampsell farm. He then drove easterly on the Sampsell driveway, and after first stopping at the highway, Huffman drove his tractor-trailer out of the Sampsell driveway. He testified that he made an observation to the north and south and saw nothing; that he then drove into the right lane, with the right rear wheel of the tractor dropping off the south edge of the culvert as Huffman made the sharp turn. At the same time Roger Green was following defendant's tractor-trailer out of the Sampsell driveway, and Green stopped his car eight or 10 feet from the west edge of the highway, with his lights shining across the highway, although tilted somewhat to the south. He did not know if they were deflected or not. About 1,000 feet to the south a car was then approaching, traveling north. There was evidence that from the driveway one had a view at night with lights approaching to the north of approximately 850 feet, just beyond the crest of a slight hill curving to the east.
The accident occurred about 6:45 p. m. on October 4, 1951. It was dark and cloudy, but dry. Plaintiff's husband, who was immediately killed as a result of the accident, approached the Sampsell driveway in his 1950 Pontiac sedan from the north on Highway 32. The lights of the car of plaintiff's husband were on and were bright. He drove his car into the left side of defendant's tractor-trailer and blew out the defendant's left rear tire; and stopped at the point of impact. There were skid marks leading up to the front wheels of the Pontiac sedan in the center lane, which were about 56 feet long. The Pontiac car on colliding with the trailer turned to the east and stopped with the rear end practically in line with the south end of the Sampsell driveway as it widens into the road; and there were 16 feet, by actual measurement, from the center of the Sampsell driveway to the right rear fender of the deceased's automobile. As a result of the accident plaintiff's husband died without regaining consciousness.
In a special verdict the jury found:
(1) That defendant, Brady Huffman, did not fail to exercise ordinary care with respect to lookout; and with respect to yielding the right of way.
(2) That plaintiff's husband failed to exercise ordinary care with respect to lookout, with respect to speed, and with respect to management and control of his automobile.
(3) That each of said failures of plaintiff's husband to exercise ordinary care with respect to lookout, excessive speed, and management and control was a cause of the collision.
There was ample credible evidence to sustain the findings of the jury that the defendant Huffman was not negligent with respect to lookout, and with respect to yielding the right of way. It is elemental that the findings of the jury should be sustained if there is credible evidence to support said findings. And when the evidence is conflicting, and there is credible evidence to support the verdict, it should not be disturbed upon appeal in the absence of some legal error. Trautmann v. Charles Schefft & Sons Co. 201 Wis. 113, 228 N. W. 741; Earl v. Napp, 218 Wis. 433, 261 N. W. 400; Steubing v. L. G. Arnold, Inc., 210 Wis. 513, 246 N. W. 554.
There were eyewitnesses to the accident available to the plaintiff but their testimony was not offered by her counsel because it evidently was overwhelmingly against her. They rested her case at the trial, and upon this appeal, almost solely upon photographs taken after the accident. Their argument is, that from the pictures alone, only one conclusion is possible, viz.: That the defendant drove into Highway 32 directly in front of the deceased's oncoming automobile. All of the appellant's arguments as to lookout and right of way are based upon that false premise. Plaintiff's conclusion from the pictures, and from the position of the vehicles, is invalid and false because the necessary factors of speed and time are omitted. When all of the testimony is considered in conjunction with the photographs, the only conclusion is that reached by the jury and approved by the court.
As Judge Goodland stated: "Taking the testimony of the defendant's witnesses and the testimony of the deputy sheriffs, the point of impact was some 30 to 35 feet from the center of the private driveway. The length of the tractor-trailer is 40 to 42 feet, this would place the distance the tractor-trailer had traveled at approximately 75 feet from the point where the defendant stopped to observe approaching traffic. The deceased, traveling at 60 to 65 miles per hour while the defendant was moving at four to five miles per hour, would cover at least 12 to 15 times the distance that the defendant would cover in the same length of time. This would place the deceased approximately 900 to 1,100 feet north of the driveway at the time the defendant moved onto the highway, without considering any time factor for the defendant to maneuver his tractor-trailer into a right turn on the highway. The jury could well believe that at the time the defendant entered the highway the deceased was beyond the crest of the hill to the north and could not be seen by the defendant when he pulled into the highway."
As stated in Kleckner v. Great American Indemnity Co. 257 Wis. 574, 577, 44 N. W. (2d) 560:
"The probative value of the testimony of witnesses is not destroyed by physical facts unless the physical facts are irrefutably established and permit of only one deduction. 'So frequently do unlooked-for results attend the meeting of interacting forces that courts should not indulge in arbitrary deductions from physical law and 'fact except where they appear to be so clear and irrefutable that no room is left for the entertainment, by reasonable minds, of any other.' "
Likewise in the case at bar, the unexplained photographs are not such as to require the jury to disbelieve the testimony of the witnesses Roger Green, Walter Leonard, and Brady Huffman. The plaintiff's physical facts, which are disputed, do not permit of only one deduction and the questions involved were peculiarly for the jury. There is no proof in the record that the deceased's automobile was visible south of the crest of the hill when the defendant Huffman emerged from the driveway. All of said three witnesses testified that there were no cars visible upon the highway at that time. It is undisputed that Huffman could see to the north 850 feet, and that he looked to the north before entering the highway. It cannot be said that he failed to see what was in plain sight because the only proof in that respect establishes that the deceased was beyond the hill to the north when the defendant's car was turning to the south, and the deceased's car was not in sight to be seen. To hold that the defendant failed to yield the right of way would lead to the absurd result that he could never enter the highway since he could not see beyond the hill 850 feet away. There were no visible cars approaching. Defendant entered the highway, completed his turn, and was traveling southerly in the right lane of the three-lane highway, in a proper manner when he was struck in the rear by the deceased, traveling at an excessive rate of speed.
By the Court. — Judgment affirmed.